Rejecting various arguments by a school district that it did not violate South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, Circuit Judge Daniel Coble ruled on Dec. 11 that the statute actually means what it says.
“Our General Assembly has found ‘that it is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in the formulation of public policy,” Coble wrote in his short ruling. “And the purpose of South Carolina's FOIA law is ‘to make it possible for citizens, or their representatives, to learn and report fully the activities of their public officials at a minimum cost or delay to the persons seeking access to public documents or meetings.’”
This may seem obvious, and the Press Association, its attorneys and attorneys for individual Press Association members have been making this argument for years. Yet repeatedly, local, county and even state government bodies and entities ignore the law, which requires that most decisions by public entities—with some very limited exceptions—be made in meetings open to the public, not in closed, backroom processes.
The latest body to be schooled on this point by a court is the Lexington-Richland 5 school board, which in 2021 forced the resignation and offered a $226,368 buy-out to Board Superintendent Christina Melton in a closed session just a few weeks after she was named South Carolina superintendent of the year. “(T)here is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute,” Judge Coble wrote. “(T)he (district) violated the Freedom of Information Act.”
Judge Coble also rejected the district’s arguments that the lawsuit over the closed meeting was moot because the board later held a vote to remove Melton in a subsequent public meeting. Read more