Public Records Request
In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Wisconsin Statutes (sec. 19.31), the Madison Metropolitan School District (“District” or “MMSD”) will process, produce and respond to public records requests during its operational hours of 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, (excluding District and legal holidays set forth on the current MMSD calendar and no hours on Fridays from June 14 through August 2). To ensure efficient processing of the public records request, the District may require that the public records request be made in writing and submitted to the proper Records Custodian at: publicrecords@madison.k12.wi.us.
The District will apply the following procedures and guidelines to all public records requests:
- Any and all public records requests shall be for those records created and maintained by the District. Please note: The District has no duty to create a public record that does not already exist at the time the request is received.
- Any and all public records requests shall be specific enough for the District and/or its Records Custodian to efficiently identify and locate the record and respond to the public records request within ten (10) business days from the date the request is received and/or without delay (excluding District and legal holidays set forth on the current MMSD calendar).
- If the requested public record is not readily available at the time of the person's request (e.g. currently in use or in storage), the District will promptly notify the requester of that fact and will then make the record available within a reasonable time and without delay of the original request.
- For any and all public records requests for transmission of a record, the District will only transmit the record when the custodian receives payment for all costs associated with the record transmission and for all other fees lawfully allowed, unless the District waives any or all of the associated costs or fees. Upon receipt of payment, transmission will occur as soon as practicable and without delay.
- For any and all public records requests for manipulation of data to generate a record in a form not used by the District, the District will only generate the record when the custodian receives payment for all costs associated with the request and for all other fees lawfully allowed. Please note: the District reserves the right to deny such a request.
- If the District does not have the capacity to copy the requested record, inspection of any public record shall take place in an area designated by the District's Records Custodian and District employees may be assigned to monitor any inspection of public records. The District reserves the right to refuse inspection of the public records if and when the inspection becomes disruptive to district operations.
- The District may adopt additional protocols and procedures to govern the processing of public records requests, including the copying, transmission, and inspection of its records to prevent unnecessary interference with District operations.
The District may charge the actual, necessary and direct cost of location, reproduction, transmission and/or transcription of any and all requested records. The District requires prepayment of fees prior to processing public records requests, if and when, the total fee exceeds $5 or location fees exceed $50.
Fee Schedule
Service | Fee | |
---|---|---|
Location Fees | Location fees are only imposed if the costs are $50 or more. "Location" includes searching for and identifying responsive records, including computer/email searches. | Cost of staff time. Staff time will be billed at the pay rate of the lowest paid employee capable of performing the task. In rare instances, specialized skills may be necessary to conduct a search and a higher rate may be assessed. |
Redaction | Redaction of confidential information. |
No charge. |
Electronic Copies | Paper to Digital |
Fee waived. In rare instances, specialized skills, equipment or technology may result in additional costs.
|
Digital to Physical |
Fee calculation: Cost of physical medium used.
|
|
Transcription Fees | Record transcription for official meeting notes (i.e. meeting notes taken by a designated note taker). | Cost of staff time. Staff time will be billed at the pay rate of the lowest paid employee capable of performing the task. In rare instances, specialized skills may be necessary to conduct a search and a higher hourly rate may be assessed. |
Transmission Fees | If records are provided in ways other than U.S. mail. | No transmission fee will be charged for transmission via electronic mail. All other transmission fees are the actual costs of the medium. |
Generating Reports | Requests to manipulate data to generate a record in a form not used by the District. | Cost of staff time, not to exceed the actual cost of manipulating the data and generating the record. In this instance, specialized skills are necessary to fulfill the request and a higher hourly rate will be assessed. Please note: Fulfilling the request will be at the District’s discretion. |
Hard Copies | If hard copies are desired, there is a per page charge. |
The first five pages at no charge, beyond the fifth page:
|
Mailing Costs | Charged at the actual rate. | Actual cost. |
The above fee schedule is adopted and modeled after the Wisconsin Department of Justice's public records fee schedule. The pricing and costs are based on the Wisconsin Office of Attorney General's Public Records Law Compliance Guide (May 2024)