Barriers: The Public Information Request
At the recommendation of Dr. Bolintineanu, I submitted a public information request to gain further information regarding the decisions made by Katy ISD during this challenge. These requests are available to the public under the Texas Public Information Act. I began my search by submitting a request to the Texas Education Agency. I received a response from Ms. Alejandra Gallegos, a Public Information Coordinator who informed me that they were unable to locate any relevant information. Upon a suggestion by the Texas Education Agency, I contacted the Public Information Unit at Katy Independent School District. I received a request to clarify the search terms related to my request. Unfortunately, by the time I received this response, it was too late for me to further pursue this request by the deadline of this assignment.
Public Information Request to the Texas Education Agency
I believe it is important to note that Katy ISD imposes a fee on public requests for information. I was told by Sabrina Fernandez from Office of the General Counsel that there would be a labour cost in order to “manipulate the .pst files into readable form”. At a programming labour cost of $28.50 per hour, this fee may serve as a barrier for members of the public to access information that they cannot afford (Katy ISD). This provides insight into the challenges revolving around the access of information depending on what the requester may or may not be able to afford.