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Group battles Smoak over $5,000 fee for FOIA request
By LEE TANT
Orangeburg Times Democrat (South Carolina)
November 2, 2008
A school choice advocacy group is asking why Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 Superintendent Melvin Smoak is charging them $5,000 to see receipts of his travel expenses from last year.
Smoak says South Carolinians for Responsible Government President Randy Page wants to see a lot more than just travel receipts. He claims the group, which advocates private school vouchers, requested any and all correspondence relating to his employment contract and travel from the 2007-08 year.
Smoak quoted SCRG a $5,000 fee, including a $2,500 deposit, to gather the information under the Freedom of Information Act. He said that is “an educated guess” on how much it would cost to have his staff locate and compile the information, in addition to attorney fees.
Page said he’s only looking for travel receipts.
“He may just be reading too much into the letter,” said Page, noting other districts provided travel receipts.
Therein is the confusion between the two sides on what SCRG’s FOIA request is actually seeking.
A copy of the FOIA request, dated Sept. 30, sent to Smoak and obtained by The T&D asked for “any and all files, records, reports, written correspondence (including emails), memoranda, contracts, agreements, or other documents” relating to his contract, including amendments, and expense reports for any conference attended by Smoak last year.
A similar request was sent to all of the state’s 85 district superintendents, Page said. He said OCSD 5 charged the most in the state to view the records. Berkeley County School District quoted Page the second highest amount at $3,600. Other districts charged little or no fee for the FOIA request, he said.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association, said the $5,000 price tag to view travel receipts for a single year is outrageous. The amount would be a “little high” even to locate a decade’s worth of correspondence and receipts.
Smoak insists “there’s nothing to hide” and he’s willing to provide the information to anybody.
Page wouldn’t say be believes Smoak is hiding anything. However, he said, “my concern is that as a government entity, school districts or state government have a responsibility to provide public information to the public.”
Both sides do agree Smoak complied with the FOIA request.
He provided the group with a copy of his employment contract and a list of his total expenses for traveling to six conferences last year. The travel expenses totaled $7,743.21.
But no receipts for those trips were provided.
That prompted Page to send an editorial to The T&D criticizing Smoak.
Page suggests Smoak’s praise of the district’s performance, which Page calls abysmal, means he holds minority students to a lower standard.
“Orangeburg 5 public schools are not working to break the community’s cycle of poverty,” Page said.
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