U. Texas Tyler students survey FOI compliance

Open government training could be a factor in improved compliance rates recorded last year in East Texas, but the educational mandate may not be broad enough to ensure key public employees follow the law, according to a university study.

Journalism students at The University of Texas at Tyler found that two-thirds of the 118 entities they surveyed employ someone with the required training in open records law, although that person may not always be the one who has initial contact with the public.

Under Texas law, all elected or appointed public officials or their designee must complete training approved by the state's attorney general's office.

Hundreds of East Texas school trustees, city managers and council members, county clerks and public information officers received that training last year, but compliance information is not necessarily trickling down to front line employees and therefore possibly preventing violations, according to survey results.

In most cases, a clerk or secretary - employees not covered by the law - likely received an open records request first. Although the request often was passed on to a superior without incident, the survey found room for improvement.

Read story in Tyler Morning Telegraph.