Trial Complete in Lawsuit to Recognize VSBA as “Public Body” Subject to FOIA
The Founding Freedoms Law Center sued the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) nearly three years ago after it refused to produce public records under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This association of Virginia school boards claimed it wasn’t a public body and therefore didn’t have to be subject to any public accountability, so we took them to court. This week, we finally had our trial.
Why is this important?
For many decades, the VSBA has held a monopoly grip over school boards in Virginia, subtly pushing left-leaning priorities into every single school district in the Commonwealth. They act as the unaccountable hidden hand for so many of the terrible policies in our school systems. So when they refused to provide records of their finances to our client, Sabrina Civils, so that the public could know what they’re doing with millions of dollars of taxpayer money, we decided to do something about it. We are demanding accountability.
On Tuesday, we finally got our day in court to put on evidence and examine witnesses. Next, the parties will file final briefs in the coming weeks and await the court’s decision. We believe the legal issue is straightforward: The VSBA is controlled by public school boards, created exclusively for the benefit of public school boards, and receives almost all of its funding directly from school boards. The people of Virginia have a right to know what their public bodies are up to.
Left to right: Josh Hetzler, Executive Director and Chief Counsel for FFLC, Sabrina Civils, Plaintiff, and Michael Sylvester, Litigation Counsel for FFLC
Ultimately, where there is no transparency or accountability, bad things happen, and that is unfortunately reflected in many of the things happening in our school boards. We want to shine a light into what is really going on. If we prevail, we believe it will go a long way to improving the status quo in Virginia’s public education system.
On a similar note, we also helped create the School Board Member Alliance in Virginia to provide a commonsense-oriented alternative to the VSBA for individual school board members. In just three years, around 100 school board members have joined.
For more information about this case, check out our previous case news alerts: