GUIDE: California Public Records Act (CPRA) Requests

Last week I sent the following email to all the SUSD trustees requesting the County’s response to the SUSD Second Interim Budget Report. The County nor the District usually make this document public. However, we believe the public should be able to see the County’s response letter as it is the only other expert review of our CBO’s work.

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to you on behalf of FixSUSD. We kindly request a copy of the letter from Mr. Troy Brown of the San Joaquin County Office of Education addressed to SUSD and its Board of Trustees pertaining to the County Office’s review of the 2022-2023 Second Interim Budget.

We firmly believe that making this document available to the public is essential in maintaining a transparent relationship between the SUSD leadership and the community it serves. While we have already submitted a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request, our intention is to provide the public with ample time to examine the document before the upcoming Board Meeting.

If you prefer not to share the letter directly with us, we kindly ask that you consider including it as an agenda item during the next board meeting. Furthermore, we would greatly appreciate it if the Board could invite representatives from the County Office of Education to attend the meeting and present the information contained in the letter in layman’s terms. This will help ensure that the details are accessible to non-budget staff members and the general public alike.

We understand the importance of a collaborative and transparent relationship between the SUSD Board of Trustees, school district staff, and the community. Your assistance in providing access to this crucial document will undoubtedly contribute to fostering trust and open communication.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to your prompt response.

I want to thank Trustee Raymond Zulueta for being the first Trustee to respond and the first one to send us to the document. I also want to thank Trustee AngelAnn Flores for also sending us a copy of the SJCOE response letter.

You can find the documents and a discussion about them at the link below.