UH defends $28,800 fee for open-records request

The University of Hawaii at Manoa is asking a national education research group to pay about $28,800 for UH to fulfill an open-records request from the group, which is compiling a controversial ranking of teacher preparation programs.

UH-Manoa’s proposed fee is the highest of any teacher prep program in the nation, but officials at the UH College of Education say its requested fee — to compile syllabuses, teacher handbooks and a host of other documents and transmit them electronically — is reasonable and reflects the estimated manpower needed to fulfill the request.

The National Council on Teacher Quality, meanwhile, calls the price tag for the public documents "excessive" and said it plans to ask to the state attorney general to review the fees.

UH-Manoa, among other colleges, opted not to voluntarily participate in the council’s new rankings of teacher prep programs, citing concerns with the council’s methodology.

The rankings will appear in U.S. News and World Report in 2012.

For programs not voluntarily participating, the council filed open-records requests to get the documents needed to rate the quality of programs. About one-third of schools not voluntarily participating asked for more than $1,000 in fees, the council said.

UH-Hilo said it would charge about $14,000 to fulfill the open-records request, the third largest fee in the nation behind Nicholls State University in Louisiana, which is asking for $21,000.

UH-West Oahu’s estimated fee is about $6,100.

Meanwhile, officials at Chaminade University of Honolulu and Brigham Young University have not yet responded to the council’s request.

Government agencies are allowed under state law to charge "reasonable fees" to process an open-records request in order to cover the cost of searching for, compiling and copying documents.

Council President Kate Walsh said UH-Manoa’s proposed fee is "ridiculous," calling it a tactic to "prevent us from moving forward." She said she considers a reasonable charge to be about $300 to $500.

Christine Sorensen, dean of UH-Manoa’s College of Education, stressed that the high fees for fulfilling the request had nothing to do with the institution’s concerns with the new ranking system.

Sorensen said the fee was based on input from departments in the College of Education, which would have to put staff on the project. "They’re asking for a huge amount of information."

For example, Sorensen said, the council is asking for course syllabuses from every section offered, not just general syllabuses. It is also asking for graduate student surveys and student teaching manuals.

More than 1,000 teacher preparation programs at public and private universities are to be included in the ranking, which NCTQ says will foster more accountability in teacher preparation.

But many prep programs argue the ranking is biased — setting up schools for failure — and that its measurements go against best practices for preparing teachers for modern classrooms.

Walsh said though the nonprofit has supported an overhaul of the nation’s teacher preparation system, it has not written off traditional teacher preparation programs.

"They think … we’re all out to get them," Walsh said.