The Illinois Public Access Counselor (PAC) recently issued a binding decision, PAC 22-012, regarding the Open Meetings Act (OMA), finding that a board of education’s closed session discussions violated the OMA at separate...more
In a recent decision, the Public Access Counselor (PAC)—the division of the Attorney General that reviews appeals regarding the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act (OMA)—found that a board of...more
Two recent decisions from the Eleventh District Court of Appeals (Portage County), State ex rel. Ames v. Brimfield Township Board of Trustees, both decided in December 2019, serve as a reminder to public boards of education...more
All city, local and exempted village school district boards of education must conduct an “organizational meeting” during the first fifteen (15) days of January of each year in accordance with R.C. 3313.14. Once the date is...more
Boards try their best to avoid it, but you hear about it time and again—a board goes into closed session and the conversation turns away from the subject matter the board identified in open session as the reason for the...more
In a unanimous and much-anticipated decision released today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a committee of school personnel formed to review materials for a high school course under a procedure set forth in school...more
The Attorney General’s Office recently issued a non-binding opinion concluding that a board of education improperly discussed matters in closed session that were not within the scope of the exceptions on which the board...more
The Illinois Supreme Court recently affirmed the decisions of the lower courts, which had overturned a Public Access Counselor opinion, in Board of Education of Springfield School District No. 186 v. the Attorney General of...more
One of the most legally perilous jobs of a school board is to preside over the public participation portion of a meeting. The key for a board is to balance its need to run efficient and orderly meetings with the ability of...more
The Public Access Counselor (PAC) division of the Attorney General’s Office recently held that the reduction in force joint committee (the “Joint Committee”) was subject to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act (OMA)....more
Our friends over at the EdLawConnectBlog in California published a blog about an interesting case from the Golden State that school leaders from across the country may find interesting. The case addressed whether school...more
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued two non-binding opinions in July related to the Open Meetings Act (OMA). In one opinion, the PAC found that a school district did not violate the OMA when...more
In a non-binding opinion, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) held that a school district violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) when the board’s negotiations team, which included three board members, held a meeting to discuss...more
In The Times News Publishing Co. v. The Alamance-Burlington Bd. of Education, No. COA15-99 (July 21, 2015), the Court of Appeals considered the intersection between the State's Open Meetings Laws (N.C.G.S. 143-318.9, et seq.)...more
In June, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) issued a non-binding opinion holding that board members of a school district did not violate the Open Meetings Act (OMA) when partaking in intermittent private email exchanges...more
An Illinois Circuit Court recently overturned a Public Access Counselor opinion. The Court held, contrary to the PAC, that the Board of Education of Springfield School District No. 186 did not violate Section 2(e) of the Open...more