| Bill would limit public information May 4, 2005 Associated Press A bill under consideration in the Texas House would limit to 50 pages the public records per month a person could retrieve from the same government agency without incurring extra charges. Current law has a limit of 50 pages per request free of labor, overhead and other charges but has no monthly limit on the number of different requests that can be filed. Proponents say the bill is necessary to relieve the burden placed on school districts and other agencies for extensive requests that are ultimately paid for by taxpayers. Some open government advocates, including a network of parents across Texas who say they use open records requests to hold schools accountable, counter that the bill would restrain the average person's ability to investigate possible government wrongdoing. The open records battle between a pair of Austin-area mothers and Eanes Independent School District spilled into the Capitol when a House committee heard testimony this week on the bill by Rep. Todd Baxter, R-Austin. "It's not my intent at all to impede the access of information," Baxter said, adding that citizens could continue to look at as many public records as they want without charge but would have to pay to have them copied. "People will still be able to make requests and review them for free. This bill doesn't change that at all," he said. The bill is not meant to target people who file numerous requests, such as the two women who file regular requests with Eanes schools in Baxter's district, he added. One of those women testified against the bill before a House committee Monday night. "They're restricting my ability to share what I have viewed to the general public," said Susan Bushart, who has filed more than 250 requests with Eanes to find out whether the district's resources are being allocated efficiently. "Obtaining public information in my district is costly." She and Dianna Pharr have posted many of the documents on their Web site. "The vast majority of our requesters would never have any change" under the bill, Eanes Superintendent Nola Wellman said. "I don't believe the authors of the Freedom of Information Act intended school districts to bear the cost of the requests." Eanes has been strained by a recent flood of requests and had to hire someone to handle the increased volume. Between late spring 2003 and autumn 2004, Eanes spent more than $65,000 in staff time and lawyers' fees related to open records requests, Wellman said last year. Baxter said he was not pressured by the school district to push the bill. His proposal remains pending in the House State Affairs Committee. |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| The HB 2264 saga: How Education, Inc.'s vast, hidden tentacles connect lobbyists, superintendents & lawmakers |
| Texans for Education Accountability (TEA), from left: Peyton Wolcott, founder; Nancy Gadbois, Susan Bushart and Dianna Pharr. |
| 'ON A STACK OF BIBLES': Outside the hall, Baxter spoke with Susan and me, asserting that HB 2264 had nothing to do with either of the Eanes moms, to the point that he said, "I swear on a stack of Bibles." The comment took us both by surprise for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was his reference to Biblical oaths. |
| LET'S START WITH EANES ISD: Three years ago, when Eanes moms Dianna Pharr and Susan Bushart (see "Who's Who" at right) were intro- duced to each other by a teacher, they quickly discovered they had similar backgrounds of volunteering in their kids' schools plus both were looking for similar information regarding Eanes' spending and the reasons behind its decision making. When the administration ignored their infor- mal requests for information, the two began filing independent public rec- ords requests at Eanes in June 2003. |
| TEXANS FOR EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY: Although several parents from around the state came together to organize this new group to stop passage of HB 2264, in the end only a handful of us were able to take entire days off to travel to Austin and lobby the legislature: Susan Bushart, Nancy Gadbois, Dianna Pharr and I. Armed only with a stack of homemade flyers we visited every representative and most senators. Because none of us had ever done anything like this before, imagine our surprise when HB 2264 failed. |


| Eanes ISD administration building |
| EANES REACTS: Like many school districts, Eanes didn't like the two moms looking so closely. Interim supe Jess Butler and his successor Nola Wellman both chose rather than to produce the requested documents to instead steer an increasing number of the moms' public records requests to outside attorneys and to Texas attorney general Greg Abbot. |
| Texas Legislature |
| There this tale would have ended except that Dianna Pharr filed a public records request to view Todd Baxter's emails, more. |


| Left, Jess Butler (PHOTO/Jana Birchum- Black Star, CrossTalk) Right, Nola Wellman (PHOTO/News 8) |
| MAY 24, 2005: To his credit, Baxter produced the emails and other public records Dianna had asked to view without involving either outside attorneys or the Office of the Attorney General. We all met at his designated viewing area at the Reagan Building on West 15th in the capitol complex. |
| Given that districts could themselves determine the number of hours of "labor," costs to parents and taxpayers to view districts' public records would have skyrocketed and put an end to many such searches. Experienced public records activists well know that you have to sort through reams of paper to find anything. Baxter listed as sources for the bill Eanes supe Nola Wellman and Thomas Ratliff, a professional lobbyist whose father and partner is Bill Ratliff, lobbyist for Texas Ass'n of School Boards (almost $100,000/year). The Ratliff's also represent The Texas Civil Justice League whose directors include Alcoa, Shell, Conoco, TXU and Union Pacific Railroad executives. Nevertheless, Baxter insisted he was an advocate of open records. |

| Many of Baxter's responsive documents were heavily redacted |


| This is what a public records viewing looks like: a couple of people sitting at a table going through a stack of papers. You have to look carefully at each of the sheets because none of them comes equipped with bells and sirens saying, "This is important." |
| (Left to right) Eanes ISD's paid lobbyist Brad Shields, Todd Baxter, Nola Wellman and Clint Sayers |
| HB 2264 PUBLIC HEARING: In addition to EISD supe Nola Wellman, EISD board president Clint Sayers testified on behalf of HB 2264, Sayers making the point that as a business- man when he did public records searches he expected to pay for the records-- missing the point that Susan Bushart and I made during our testimonies that we were parents and taxpayers trying to find out how our schools were spending our money, not businessmen expecting to recoup the public records fees by turning a profit from the records. |

| Susan Bushart (left) with Dianna Pharr looking at the smoking gun buried in hundreds of pieces of paper, the document below signed by Baxter's aide Candice Shapiro, clearly showing Eanes ISD supe Nola Wellman as "Source of bill" along with Bill Ratliff's son Thomas Ratliff. Note that neither Susan nor Dianna were listed as potential witnesses. |
| Then-Eanes ISD board president Clint Sayers testifying on behalf of HB 2264 at May 2, 2005 hearing |
| "THE SMOKING GUN" Here's what a smoking gun looks like--just another piece of paper unless you understand the context, the names, the dates |

| Notable if incorrect quote from Associated Press: "Baxter said he was not pressured by the school district to push the bill." -- May 4, 2005 |
| This (above) with EISD supe Nola Wellman's name ('Dr. Wellman') shown first as 'source of bill' is proof that Eanes ISD was the source of HB 2264--Baxter's stack of Bibles or no. 'Thomas Ratliff' is the son of Bill Ratliff, author of Texas' so-called Robin Hood public school finance scheme--and powerful Texas Ass'n of School Boards paid professional lobbyist. POSTSCRIPT: Five months after this bill was defeated, Baxter resigned his seat to become a full-time professional lobbyist himself (more below under banner 'Texas Ethics Commission Lobby List'). |
| HB 2264 TIMELINE |
| May 5, 2005 - Dianna Pharr reminds Nola, "I tried for a full year to volunteer to work on the EISD website–at no cost to the district–to post items such as board agendas, minutes and handouts. Public information could be posted to the EISD and I am certain that this could be accomplished through volunteer efforts." NOTE: NO RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM NOLA AS OF JULY 10, 2006. May 6, 2005 - Dianna Pharr sends a series of public records request to Rep. Todd Baxter: "Please allow me to observe any and all public information related to communications of any kind for any reason, including but not limited to e-mails and correspondence between and among you (and your office and staff) and the Eanes Independent School District employees, associates and board members for the past two years....Please allow me to observe any and all documents that show or reflect information regarding the Eanes Independent School District (employees, associates and board members) for the past two years. Responsive documents should include but are not limited to phone logs and notes generated and/or received by you or your office and staff. Please also include emails generated by or received by home and/or office computers. If an email has an attachment, please remember to open it and print it out for my review, as well. If any of the public information has confidential information, please contact me so that we can work together to avoid the need for an opinion request with the Office of the Attorney General." May 9, 2005 - Committee report filed. May 10, 2005 - Committee report sent to Calendars. May 13, 2005 - Austin American- Statesman announces HB 2264 is "dead," never having found a Senate sponsor. Fortunately for Texas parents and taxpayers, Senator Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio apparently changed his mind and declined his co- sponsorship. of the bill. May 24, 2005 - Dianna, Susan and Peyton view documents produced by Rep. Baxter's office responsive to Dianna's May 6 requests. Oct. 20, 2005 - Todd announces his resignation from the Texas Lege, effective Nov. 1, 2005. |
| March 8, 2005 - Rep. Todd Baxter files HB 2264 during the 79th Legislature's regular session. May 2, 2005 - The five-day rule regarding posting of bills is suspended by David Swinford, chair-State Affairs Committee, who then immediately schedules a public hearing for later that afternoon. Testifying in favor of HB 2264 are Eanes ISD supe Nola Wellman and then-EISD board chair Clint Sayers; testifying against are Susan Bushart and Peyton Wolcott. When Wellman begins her testimony, committee chair Swinford remarks on the golf game earlier that day. May 2, 2005 - DeeDee Stone, wife of EISD board member Paul Stone, sends an email with the RE line: "House Bill 2264- PLEASE HELP ASAP" to "Friends" including: former EISD board member Donna Howard (who won Todd's seat after he resigned); Teena Ball (wife of 2004-05 president, Westlake Chap Club (the high school's athletic booster club); Ellen Balthazar (EISD board member); Marvin Bendele (former EISD board member); Jill Durkee (EISD "permanent substitute" and wife of board member/now board president Robert Durkee); Clint Sayers (2004-05 EISD board president); Mike Monnig (EISD board member) Anne Monnig (wife of Mike Monnig); Shary Orr (2005-06 Westlake Chap Club co-President). May 5, 2005 - Rich Oppel of the Austin American- Statesman writes a column regarding HB 2264, quotes Eanes ISD supe Nola Wellman as citing lack of personnel as the district's reason for not posting public records online. (See grey box below) May 5, 2005 - According to Lege records, "Representative Cook, Byron moved that HB 2264, as substituted, be reported favorably to the full house with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed. " The motion prevailed because the following five representatives were willing to go on the record as "aye" votes: Dave Swinford, Byron Cook, Jim Keffer, Trey Martinez-Fischer, and Mike Villarreal. |
| Brad Shields- Registered Lobbyist (2005) |
| (00012135) [partial listing below] (512)413-2700 P.O. Box 162925 Austin, TX 78716-2925 Eanes Independent School District P.O. Box 162925 Austin, TX 78716 Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 RaptorWare Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Texas Assn of School Psychologists Amount: $25,000 - $49.999.99 Texas Smokestack School Coalition Amount: $50,000 - $99,999.99 |
| Interested? Would you like to learn more about Texas' registered lobbyists and their clients, how much they expect to earn this year? Link to more here: www.ethics.state.tx.us/t edd/lobcon2006d.htm |
POSTSCRIPT As of July 10, 2006, Dianna Pharr was still waiting for the following from Eanes ISD: EISD supe Nola Wellman's new salary, benefits and contract (requested Apr. 27, 2006) EISD Apr. 26, 2006 handwritten board meeting minutes (requested Apr. 27, 2006) Public information held by EISD trustees: board minutes, agendas and correspondence (first requested September 2005). When EISD provided no responsive documents by Jan. 2006, Dianna asked again. EISD filed an opinion request with the OAG which issued an opinion letter on May 10, 2006, specifying which documents EISD had to produce responsive to her requests. STATUS PER DIANNA JULY 10, 2006, TWO MONTHS LATER: "The district has not provided a single responsive document." The following was requested Dec. 7, 2005: Any and all documents related to the $21,000 in allowances to the superintendent. “Information in an account, voucher or contract” including for example contracts on applicable individuals, such as Ruth Bibb. 05-06 information on Cory Duty and Anne Nelson. Payroll Authorization Forms and any other responsive information for 2005-06 on all specified employees (see list of employees provided to district on December 21, 2005 upon the district’s request). Earnings related to Community Education (EISD coaches, for example, earn money through Eanes ISD Community Education). Health club membership documents. Name, sex, ethnicity, salary, title, and dates of employment and contract and/or agreement for each identified employee. Expense reimbursements. Salary, benefits, stipends, incentives, incentive plans, expense reimbursements, automobile allowances, health club membership benefits and any other tangible or intangible benefits for 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06. (NOTE: The only responsive documents provided by the district for 05-06 is an Excel spreadsheet which did not include information for it didn’t include Cory Duty or Anne Nelson or other information requested such as expense reports.) |
| RELEVANT, AND WORTH THE READ Commentary: Crack open schools' books By Chris Patterson - Thursday, April 28, 2005 (Austin American Statesman) What enterprise do you suppose wrote checks amounting to $1.6 million for lawyers, $375,000 for various chambers of commerce, $311,000 for professional association fees, $90,000 for Franklin Covey (personal effectiveness and productivity training), $14,500 for Billie Arbuckle Adventures and $2.7 million for Young Audiences of North Texas (arts and cultural programs)? Would you be surprised to learn it was a Texas public school district? These expenditures occurred when the district claimed it was "forced" to dismiss several hundred high school teachers because of "inadequate" funding. And when it was suing Texans for more tax dollars. The district? Dallas Independent School District, according to a review of their check register last spring. Dallas is not alone; its books were just the easiest to crack, which explains how the education bureaucracy gets away with claims of "inadequate" funding. Public schools simply do not keep accounting books that clearly identify how money is spent. Although districts make megabytes of financial data available on the Internet, the state's reporting system is so Byzantine that it's impossible for Texans to get a handle on how school spending is directed into true academic outcomes. School finance reform offers the perfect opportunity to introduce a reporting system that opens the books to taxpayers in a clear, direct way. The Texas Legislature should seize this opportunity to craft legislation that improves school accounting practices. The Texas House, in House Bill 2, called for greater clarity in school spending by requiring more disclosure. The bill requires schools to provide more detail about non-instructional spending — identifying money spent on memberships and lobbying. This is a definite step forward, a strong improvement over current accounting practices. But it does not go far enough. As the Texas Senate takes up its own version of school finance reform, it, too, must make every effort to restore our confidence that reporting on school spending is more than another Enron-style accounting scheme. The accounting ledger must differentiate between expenditures on mandatory, direct classroom costs and optional programs. What cannot happen is the watering down of meaningful reporting with the inclusion of items such as "school leadership," "curriculum development" and "counseling services" as direct instructional costs. If the lobbyists representing school administrators have their way in this debate, almost anything a school does would be identified as instructional expenditures — just like it is today. Of course, that makes as much sense as counting everything in a kitchen as nutrition-related spending. School administrators want to continue to claim that inadequate funding forces them to fire elementary school reading teachers, while being able to pay chamber of commerce dues and construct tennis courts, and using our tax dollars to hire lawyers who sue us for higher state taxes. Our hope for getting schools to open their books to scrutiny rests now with the Texas Senate, then with the Legislature's conference committee. We must get this right; it is unlikely we will have another chance to improve school accounting practices for a decade. Texans deserve full, clear access to the information needed to control wasteful spending and improve public education. And until schools are forced to do so, Texans should close their wallets. Patterson is the director of research at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonprofit research institute based in Austin. [NOTE: Chris has since left TPPF.] |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2009 Peyton Wolcott |

| "Governor vetoes sunshine bill Citing an 'inherent conflict of interest,' Gov. Arnold Shwarzenegger last weekend vetoed legislation that would have required the Attorney General’s Office to review rejected requests for public records under the California Public Records Act and offer its written opinion concerning the request. Sponsored by Californians Aware and supported by CNPA, AB 2927 by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D- San Francisco) would have also allowed courts, in appropriate circumstances, to assess a financial penalty against agencies that disregard their duty to comply with the Act and made several changes to the law with regard to improving public access to state agencies by use of their internet web sites. It would have required the Department of Justice to convene an advisory task force to consider a statutory standard governing the posting of certain activities under the act, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature no later than September 30, 2007. In his veto message, Schwarzenegger declares 'an open and accessible government is critical to instill confidence in the governed.' Noting the people recently 'voted overwhelmingly to make access to public records a fundamental right,' Schwarzenegger said he had issued an executive order requiring state agencies to post their public records procedures in their offices and to train staff. 'These efforts address the problem this bill is attempting to fix,' he wrote. With respect to the Attorney General review provisions, Schwarzenegger wrote: 'The Attorney General is the attorney for most State agencies and advises agencies on responding to such requests and thus this bill creates an inherent conflict of interest.' The Senate had approved AB 2927 on a vote of 40-0 and the Assembly on a vote of 78-0. Schwarzenegger is the third governor to veto attorney general review legislation. Three previous bills sponsored by CNPA and overwhelmingly approved by the legislature were vetoed–two by Gov. Gray Davis and one by Gov. Pete Wilson. Cal Aware General Counsel Terry Francke said this about the veto: 'The Governor’s veto of AB 2927 puts him in the open government tradition of Gray Davis and the Bush White House. Last January Californians Aware audited key state agencies’ compliance with their most basic duties under the California Public Records Act and found them earning an F grade average. The Governor then ordered training for the agencies that raised the average grade on our second survey to no more than a C-although the audited agencies knew we were coming back and what we would ask for. Obviously the Governor is satisfied with C performance at best, since his training efforts, he says, 'address the problem this bill (was) attempting to fix.' We don’t believe that, of course, and neither do the more than 150 state agency officials who are coming to our own training session in the Capitol this week. As for the 'inherent conflict of interest' the Governor sees in having the Attorney General review denials of public records requests, that issue was resolved in the bill, as anyone who actually read AB 2927 would have discovered. The Governor’s veto of this bill leaves no doubt that his pledge, in his first campaign for the Governor’s office, to take extraordinary steps to open California government to public scrutiny, either was an empty promise from the outset or a commitment he decided to drop after achieving office. One way or the other, the Governor has at this point obviously decided there is no longer any need to make transparent government a standard to pursue. The only thing transparent at this hour is the phoniness of his pretexts for vetoing AB 2927.' " --------------------- PW Comment: Our extra step here in Texas, that we can take our public records problems to the state attorney general rather than go straight to court as they do in California and other states, is not perfect, but at least it's an extra step available to us. One reason why parents do not fare as well as school districts when presenting our case to the OAG may be as simple as this: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's wife Cecilia accepted an appointment to the State Board for Educator Certification, which is at the Texas Education Agency. Our queries about this arrangement to both Abbotts have gone unanswered. So what do we do now, take a complaint to General Abbott for aruling on his wife? |
| HB 2264 hearing |
COMMENT This "smoking gun" from Todd Baxter (above) is a great example of why it's important for school districts to honor Texas Attorney General Opinion JM-757 which allows citizens to take photos at document viewings such as ours on May 24. So many times I'd find something like this "smoking gun" and request a copy, then when the clerk got to the xerox machine and realized what it was, refused to give us the copy; we then had no record at all of the document's existence and it became our word versus the schools.' --Peyton Wolcott |
| Paper wars in West Lake Hills By Rich Oppel | Thursday, May 5, 2005, 06:09 AM Austin American-Statesman I have a plan for ending battles over public records. Put all government records up on the Internet, except for those that are specifically confidential by law. Routinely, some agency equates openness to waste. The poor taxpayer, we are told by the agency head, must bear the cost of public employees spending hours, days, rummaging through filing cabinets to assemble scraps of paper. A recent example is the Eanes Independent School District, which serves West Lake Hills, West Austin and Rollingwood. Since at least 2003, Susan Bushart and Dianna Pharr have regularly filed demands for school records. “Somebody has to pay for the labor to do all of that," Supt. Nola Wellman told me. “We’re funded by taxpayers to provide an education to students. Should that money be spent on public information?" The legislator who represents most of the Eanes School District is Rep. Todd Baxter, a Republican. He filed House Bill 2264. If passed, Bushart and Pharr would be able to get 50 pages of information each month from Eanes schools. After reaching that level, the two woman would have to pay a fee. I see the 50- page limit as merely another excuse to further close government. School districts are unusually resistant to open records requests. This will raise higher the barricades against the public’s right to know. I called Baxter. Why doesn’t the Texas Legislature require all governmental units to post all public records on the Internet? “You know, that’s a great idea," said Baxter. “It’s one of the things we’ve talked about…We probably ought to require more of that. It’s good for all involved, it saves costs to to government and makes records more accessible." Good. Then why not withdraw HB 2264 and introduce, say, the Mandatory Internet Posting of Public Records Act of 2005? “I’ll look to see if (the Internet idea) is germane. If not, we can amend the caption‿ of HB 2264. I’m not sure what that means. I would kill the bill and start over. When Rep. Baxter reports back, I’ll let you know what he decided. Look around your office. In our newsroom, you no longer will see Royal typewriters or IBM Selectrics. You see Dell PCs and Apple Macs. You see fewer filing cabinets. My “files" are in pull downs on my navigation bar. When will school districts – especially wealthy ones like Eanes – reach the 21st century with technology that will allow easy access to public records? “For one thing, we just haven’t focused on the business of putting records up electronically," said Wellman. “We focus on education. We haven’t had the personnel to do it." I know this is not as simple as it may seem. Some records are works in progress, and not public. In school districts, some records involving teacher discipline, students on assisted lunch programs and so on are protected by law. With the best of technology, it may be cumbersome today to put up some records, like vouchers, invoices and canceled checks (although my bank recently told us they’d no longer return canceled checks to us). But we can get started. While Nola Wellman’s first responsibility is to education, this is, after all, public education. Rep. Baxter has backed other open-records legislation, including one bill placing a new emphasis on training public employees in records disclosure. |
| While over 300 Texas school districts have embraced accountability with open arms by posting their check registers online, others in Texas and elsewhere are running hard and fast the opposite direction, all at huge costs in legal bills and loss of taxpayer confidence. The natural question, "Why?" And gnawing away underneath, "What are you hiding?" Here is an account of parents in four Texas school districts seeking accountability. |
| NOTE: Although Texans for Education Accountability had many members and many supporters in other school districts around the state, only four of us were able to clear entire days of our calendars and travel to Austin to lobby the Lege. |
| NOW LET'S LOOK AT BREMOND ISD: Pat and Maurice Yezak and Nancy and Robert Gadbois had also begun looking into their superintendent Kenneth Johnson's spending, similarly experiencing stonewalling and delays in obtaining receipts and records. They called their group Concerned Taxpayers of Bremond. Because the husbands worked and the moms were at home during the day, Nancy and Pat did most of the groundwork. |
| Bremond moms Pat Yezak (L) & Nancy Gadbois with open records binders (PHOTO/Waco Tribune) |

| AND A LOOK AT LLANO ISD: Parents Bill and Rebecca Jennings and Pat and Jim Donahy were also looking into then-superintendent Jack Patton's spending and meeting the same resistance, what one calls "a brick wall." Rebecca found a receipt for a pricey steak dinner Patton had treated himself and some board members and spouses to at a state school boards convention in Dallas; Rebecca also found hotel receipts for telephone sex and/or call-girl services from a hotel stay billed to the district at the same convention although to whom the room belonged is a matter of some dispute. |

| Pat Donahy |
| When the two couples took their findings to a local newspaper, the publisher wanted his own copy of the steak dinner receipt so he filed a separate public records request and Patton--apparently not |
| AND A LOOK AT MARBLE FALLS ISD: Like all these other folks, I was wondering how the district where my daughter was attending high school was spending its money; why were the kids taking choir class having to do fund raisers for new formal performance clothing when partici- pants in the school's extracurricular activities were receiving several sets of uniforms for free. Also, had heard rumors about how the then-supe had come to purchase some goofy programs for the district. So I filed my first public records request to look at programs spending and was presented with a $426 bill. Christine and Bill Forsyth and I began lobbying the state comptroller to bring the Texas School Performance Review audit to the district; within ten days of the Comptroller's announcement a year later (Dec. 10, 2002) that she was going to audit MFISD, both the supe and an ass't supe had resigned; the following spring three long-term board mem- bers elected not to run again. We organized the first PEAK$ group, and succeeded in bringing drug testing and a dress code to the high school. |
| realizing that he'd already produced it--denied having such a receipt. In the meantime, the four persisted in taking their findings through a chain of command not dissimilar to the Bremond moms' including disappointing rounds with the Texas Education Agency and the State Auditor's Office; the latter reportedly considered the four's findings a slam dunk--until politics in the form of District Attorneys Ronnie Earle and Sam Oatman got involved and suddenly the case died. |

| Marble Falls HS |
| MEANWHILE AT LLANO ISD: I began covering MFISD and Llano ISD for a group of local weeklies, focusing on investigating and reporting LISD's finances, Jack Patton's eventual trial and conviction (Texas' first public information act conviction), and the surrender by Jack of his SBEC certi- ficates. |

| Fast forward to April 5, 2005 as parents in Bremond, Llano, Marble Falls and Eanes continue plugging away looking for the truth. |
| As written by Baxter, the new bill would have enabled school districts and other governmental entities to charge $20/hour labor after the first 50 copies/month. |

| THE ADVENT OF HB 2264: In early spring 2005 Eanes approached their state representative, Todd Baxter, who responded on April 5, 2005 by drafting new legislation--HB 2264--specifically designed to hamper parents' efforts. |
| Todd Baxter |

| MEANWHILE, AT BREMOND ISD: In May 2004 Pat Yezak and Robert Gadbois both successfully won spots as Bremond ISD trustees; Robert served as BISD board president his first year. |
| MEANWHILE, IN BREMOND ISD: The moms continued working to bring their district's murky finances to light and attempting to gain the attention of state and federal agencies (here for more); while Baxter and Eanes and Ratliff worked to pass HB 2264, the groundwork was being laid in Robertson County to convene a grand jury. Throughout, the moms were harassed by BISD employees and anonymous citizenry. |
| MEANWHILE, AT BREMOND ISD: Was there something in the air or going on with the planets? The same week that we discovered the smoking gun among Todd Baxter's public records, the Robertson County grand jury was talking to witnesses regarding the results of the Texas Ranger and State Auditor's Office investigations; Johnson was eventually indicted in September 2005 for stealing more than $100,000 from BISD, on two counts of felony theft. Johnson's son Jason and BISD's former business manager Sandra Nolan were also indicted. Below, Kenny Johnson in handcuffs on way to prison; he eventually served two years. |
| A BIG OUCH: Wire transfers which did not show up on the district's check register were otherwise unaccounted for. The parents also discovered financial mismanagement in the district's in-house technology department, including LISD's technology consortium (now an illegal practice). Checks were written out of LISD's account to a Robin Hood partner district--LISD is property- rich--accompanied by a letter of instruction from LISD'S CFO Carol Voit to endorse and return the check in a provided envelope. But when the checks arrived back at Llano ISD, they were not deposited back into LISD's checking account but instead into an account not belonging to LISD in an East Texas bank near Jack Patton's home in Crockett. At this point one of the parents received a threatening letter with a pack of matches enclosed, "This is to give you a jump start on leaving." There were other technology issues also. |
| By Peyton Wolcott - Updated Mar. 30, 2009 |




| WHO'S WHO Bremond ISD - Parents: Nancy and Robert Gadbois, Pat and Maurice Yezak; Then-supe: James Kenneth ("Kenny") Johnson Eanes ISD - Parents: Susan Bushart, Dianna Pharr; Supes: Former interim Jess Butler, current supe Nola Wellman Llano ISD - Parents: Pat and Jim Donahy, Rebecca and Bill Jennings Supes: Former supe Andrew Jackson ("Jack") Patton, current supe Dennis Hill Marble Falls ISD - Parents: Christine and Bill Forsyth, Peyton Wolcott Supes: Former supe Dana Marable, current supe Ryder Warren |

| When Llano ISD's board began its executive sessions--often 3-4 hours long--the public was herded out into the hallway where there was no ventilation save the front door; if it was 110 degrees outside, it was hotter inside. Top right: trustee Alan Geistman (stated profession: "investor") closing and locking the door on the public. Although at all times the board had access to any of a dozen A/C'd offices, they chose instead to herd taxpayers outside into the heat. "It's our meeting," said one trustee. "See the sign on the door? It says BOARD Room." |
| UNBRIDLED HUBRIS AT LLANO ISD: TENOR OF THE TIMES |
| BREMOND REACTS: Nancy, an active volunteer in all four children's classrooms, was no longer welcome on campus. Pat, an active substitute teacher at BISD, suddenly was no longer needed as a substitute. Things happened to their kids. An obscenity was written in reverse on the dust on the back window of Nancy's SUV so she could read it in the rear view mirror, which she did, one Sunday morning en route to church. |
| MEANWHILE, AT LLANO ISD: We organized as PEAK$ of Llano ISD and successfully placed all five of our reform-platform candidates on the seven-person school board in the May 14, 2006 election; one of the secrets of our success: we required all five endorsed candidates to sign a public pledge to not do business with the school district during their tenure. |
| MEANWHILE, AT MARBLE FALLS ISD: With the three board members needing to be gone already down the road, community members did not need to organize again. |
| How a handful of moms successfully blocked HB 2264 |
| UPDATE/BREMOND ISD: Pat Yezak and Robert Gadbois, as trustees, continue to work to bring more transparency to BISD, aided by the business manager they hired, Bruce Fuller, a retired business executive who stepped into the situation Kenneth Johnson and Sandra Nolan left behind: no paper records. Kenneth Johnson is currently still in prison, although his first release hearing is next month; sadly, Sandra Nolan has passed away. |
| UPDATE/EANES ISD: Susan Bushart released a series of "Community Updates" via email to share her public records findings, and Dianna Pharr has reactivated her website, www.keepeanesinformed.com. Nola Wellman continues to be employed as EISD's supe despite the fact that her supe's SBEC certificate expired Jan. 13, 2005; she has never passed the state superintendent exam. Todd Baxter, author of HB 2264, resigned from his seat in the Texas Lege a few months later--imagine, how embarrassing to lose your bill to a handful of moms--and is now a professional lobbyist primarily for the telecommunications industry. Further, Eanes filed an amicus curiae "friend of the court" brief in Lake Travis ISD's SLAPP lawsuit against parents David and Melissa Lovelace. Remember Thomas Ratliff, son of Bill Ratliff, both lobbyists? And Thomas was named by then-rep. Todd Baxter as source of HB 2264? Thomas Ratliff has surfaced again; according to the Austin American- Statesman, "Thomas Ratliff, the son of former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, filed suit Thursday [Dec. 7, 2006] in Travis County District Court because the district spends too much tax money on open records requests, his lawyer Buck Wood said. The district was harassed by too many requests from the same people, Wood said." |

| TSPR manager Betty Ressel and team present Llano ISD audit findings |
| I also reported that the current Llano ISD supe had only complied with 10% of the timeline recommendations in LISD's TSPR audit, released August 27, 2003. In February 2004 trustee Mark Stephenson (top right) took publisher Eric Bishop to lunch and reportedly threatened to sue the news- paper group; afterwards, I was invited to "lighten up" on my investigating and start covering "good news" such as the poetry contest at the local high school, so of course I quit. Shortly thereafter we were asked by neigh- bors to bring PEAK$ to Llano ISD. |

| Then Llano ISD trustee Billy Ratliff (far right) returning papers to Jack Patton (standing) during secret negotiation session--public was barred; photo taken through glass door panel. |
| Illegal electioneering by Llano ISD schoolteacher/CFO's husband |
| In another incident also in Llano ISD, then-Packsaddle Elementary principal Dwight Leon "Dwin" Nanny, Jr. (above right, narrating PES Christmas program), used LISD's computer and email service to encourage employees to campaign trustees to promote Dennis Hill to permanent supe; like both Voits, Nanny has left the district. |
| Cartoons such as this one below left taking aim at PEAK$ members were published in a local paper which has since folded; the cartoonist, Michael Voit (the husband of LISD's CFO, (above far right), was cited by the Texas Ethics Commission for violating the election code, by using LISD's compu- computers email to electioneer, here: www.ethics.state.tx.us/sworncomp/2004/2406114mv.pdf |
| Fast-forward to 2006 |
| UPDATE/LLANO ISD: Jack Patton is selling barbecue out of Doc's Country Store and BBQ, the convenience store he owns in his hometown of Crockett, Texas; he sometimes caters events at the local school district. New LISD supe Dennis Hill's refusal to follow the TSPR timelines cost the district hundreds of thou- sands of dollars; had, for example, Hill followed TSPR recommendation #47 and required the CFO to establish a central filing system for contracts, Llano ISD would have known where to look for paperwork when technology director Tim Gau left Llano ISD to work in Dickinson ISD in the Gulf Coast area; according to district employees, Gau left behind no paper records, including any passwords to systems he installed. A year later, LISD tech- nology employees were still finding servers, still figuring out passwords. |
| UPDATE/MARBLE FALLS ISD: The district has just passed a popularly supported bond issue, and I am on the agenda Monday night, Dec. 18, to discuss the possibility of the district posting its checks online. |

| Llano ISD supe Dennis Hill controlling one of only three mics he allocates to eight people at LISD board meetings, an ironic situation for the 66th richest (of 1,032) Texas districts; further, Hill sits, "Team of Eight" style, in the middle of the dais. |
| Former Llano ISD CFO Carol Voit (left) sold her new house with the indoor lap pool and returned to Lubbock where she is employed by Region 17 ESC as "Coordinator, Business Services." |
| Advantage Capital Partners AIG Alltel Wireless American Insurance Association ChoicePoint Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America El Paso Electric Company Microsoft T-Mobile USA TXU Texas Association of Campground Owners Texas Civil Justice League Texas Coalition for Capital Texas Council of Engineering Cos. Texas Motorcoach Association Texas Police Chiefs Association Texas Travel Industry Association Verizon Wireless |
| RATLIFF CO. CLIENTS |
| FROM THE RATLIFF COMPANY'S WEBSITE: "Since 1995, The Ratliff Company has represented the interests of businesses and trade associations in matters dealing with the Texas Legislative and Executive Branches, as well as key State Agencies. We routinely provide critical information to elected officials, testify before legislative and regulatory committees, review pending legislation, and work to pass, modify or defeat legislation and policies that affect our clients. With over 50 years of combined experience dealing with the Texas Legislative process, our team can effectively represent your interests. If you are seeking such representation, we would be pleased to discuss your possible addition to our list of clients. "Our offices are conveniently located just 500 yards (a short par 5) south of the Capitol and one block from the Governor's Mansion." |

| Thomas Ratliff |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . Copyright 1999-2006 Peyton Wolcott |
| Todd Baxter Registered Lobbyist (2005-2009) |
| TEXAS ETHICS COMMISSION REGISTERED LOBBYISTS |
| Thomas Ratliff - Registered Lobbyist (2005-2008) |
| Conservative Commentary - HB 2264 (onerous anti-sunshine legislation) & other FOIA* issues here in Texas including a school district's SLAPP suit, online check registers |
WHY I DON'T FILE PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS ANY MORE** Friends, many of you who contact me are filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) public records requests, and God bless you for being interested enough to make the effort. With America's families' finances tanking along with the economy, more folks are questioning public school district spending. I used to file public school records requests myself; after all, it's our money and our right to see these records. Alas, historically many superintendents have viewed such requests as attacks and responded accordingly, often using lawyers, threats and/or their state administrators' lobbies, with the result that sunshine laws are under attack everywhere, constantly, most often in the form of increased copying costs along with formalized tracking of requests and requesters. Defeating Anti-Sunshine Legislation: During the 2005 Lege here in Texas when a Republican representative sought steeper fees for public records, I organized a handful of moms (more below right); although working together we defeated the bill, I realized afterwards that the members of the administrators' lobby (TASA) behind HB 2264 had careers and pensions at stake whereas we were volunteers. Taxpayer-salaried supes have almost unlimited time not to mention unrestricted access to unlimited funds for lawyers and expenses. Sun Tzu recommends not waging a battle on a field your opponent can dominate. TASA's next anti-sunshine attempt was a SLAPP lawsuit by TASA's lobbyist against some parents who had filed thousands of FOIA requests; when TASA lost the suit they used the example of the parents to persuade legislators to write bills with steep fee increases targeting volunteer parents and taxpayers. As a strategy newspapers were exempted with the result that the editors and reporters who usually oppose anti-sunshine encroachments instead stood by mute and the bill became law. Increased FOIA Costs Used by Governmental Bodies Such as School Districts as a Deterrent to Parents & Taxpayers: When businessmen and reporters file public records requests and incur $100 or $500 or $1,000 in costs, they know they'll be reimbursed by a boss or a client, but parents and taxpayers have no such intent or expectation; in fact, through the years many of us have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars out of our own pockets. But why do we want to look? When I realized the goal of viewing public spending records was to be able to see districts' spending, it came to me that if we could persuade school districts to voluntarily post their check registers online, we'd reach the same place but via a friendlier, happier route. More here. +++++++++ * FOIA is an acronym (the Freedom of Information Act, which is federal legislation); states have their own versions -- FOIL (the Freedom of Information Law) in New York, the Texas Public Information Act, etc. ** On rare occasions I will file a public records request, but only after the district has chosen not to respond to a friendly question or request. |
| Then-Llano ISD board president Mark Chapman (left), trustee Mark Stephen- son dodging questions re generous settlement they'd just moments before granted to convicted supe Jack Patton. |
| MEANWHILE, AT BREMOND ISD: Parallel investigations by Texas Rangers and State Auditor's Office began in October 2003, just prior to supe Johnson's resignation. The following January, auditors announced Johnson and business manager Sandra Nolan had taken $200,000+ more than they were due from district funds. |


| Friends, I'm bringing this page out of retirement because so many of you have raised questions about filing public records requests and fighting anti-sunshine legislation at the state level. Three things to keep in mind: (1) It's good for folks embarking on this path for reasons of their own to know that a handful of moms can defeat a piece (HB 2264) of .......anti-sunshine legislation at the state level, and also to encourage you; if we did it with no budget and no political pull, anyone can. (2) It's worthwhile with major events to compile a careful time line and history. (3) There's a "smoking gun" at the bottom of this page which helps clarify why public records are important. (Updated 10.13.09) |
