The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) is a series of laws that allow public access to many government records including schools district records. Two important exceptions to this general rule are requests for student records and portions of employee personnel files.
Student Records:
The confidentiality rules and release procedures of academic records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and are not subject to disclosure under CORA. To obtain student records, please refer to the district’s Student Records & Transcripts webpage.
Personnel Files:
CORA prohibits public school districts from releasing parts of employee personnel files including, but not limited to: home addresses, telephone numbers, financial information, certain employee evaluation reports, letters of reference, and other information maintained because of the employer-employee relationship.
Before Submitting a Request, Please Review the Below Information:
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Financial Records:If you are looking for financial records, it may be contained on our district’s Financial Transparency and Budget pages.Please consider searching these pages prior to submitting your request.
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District and Board Policies:If you are looking for policies, please consider searching the pages student, school, and staff board policies.
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Inspection of Records:If the requester wishes to inspect the records responsive to the request in advance of receiving copies, such inspection shall be by appointment only during normal business hours. A district representative will supervise the requester during the inspection period
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Fees and Charges:The district will ordinarily include an estimate of the costs associated with responding to a request for records in its initial response to the requester, unless the requested records are not subject to disclosure. The estimate shall include the costs associated with responding to the request in accordance with CORA. We will advance payment of costs.
CORA provides the district may charge a reasonable fee for copies of documents, not to exceed twenty-five cents per standard page ($0.25) or fifty cents per double-sided page ($0.50) or a fee not to exceed the actual cost of providing a copy, printout, fax, email or photograph of a public record in a format other than a standard page. Printing fees may still apply when records are transmitted electronically if it is necessary for the custodian to print documents in order to redact exempt information and/or scan the record to create an electronic file.
When researching, retrieving, reviewing or producing records takes longer than one hour, a fee of $30.00 per hour will be charged for all staff time after the first hour. This fee will also apply to services rendered by district staff in supervising the copying, printing out, or photographing of the requested documents.
If the actual costs incurred by the district are less than those collected, the district shall provide a refund to the requester. Upon receipt of payment, unless extenuating circumstances exist, the records will be transmitted in a reasonable amount of time. Ordinarily, this delivery window is three business days.
To make a records request, per the Colorado Open Records law, please complete the online form.
Should you not be able to submit an online request, you may send a written request via U.S. mail to:
Jeffco Public Schools
Legal Services
Open Records Request
1829 Denver West Drive #27
Golden, CO 80401
For written requests, view the online form to determine the required information.
Time for Response
- The normal time for production shall be three working days, beginning on the first business day after the request is received.
- Such period may be extended upon determination by the custodian that extenuating circumstances exist; such period of extension shall not normally exceed seven working days. The requester shall be notified of the extension within the three-day period.
- Time periods for items received on a weekend, outside of regular business hours or holidays will be calculated without including the date on which the custodian
receives the request.
Related District Polices & State Law
All district policies can be viewed on Board Docs.