The business of Spartanburg School District Three is open to public review, as is required by the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. In South Carolina, Freedom of Information Act requests are codified in the SC Code of Laws under Section 30.  The full law can be found at http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t30c004.php.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), we have 15 business days within which to inform you of the availability of the non-exempt “public records” that you have requested and to provide a time and cost estimate to provide those public records to you.

We do not make public, and will not produce in response to your request, those records that may be exempted under state law, including, but not limited to, trade secrets, personal information of students or teachers, confidential proprietary information, privileged communications, or protected information. We do not provide personally identifiable student information.  We abide by all laws and regulations pertaining to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and do not make public any records protected under these Acts.

You can submit your FOIA request by:

Email: thouck@spartanburg3.org

Mail: Office of Public Information
          Spartanburg School District Three
          PO Box 267
          Glendale, SC 29346


Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) fee schedule

It is Spartanburg School District 3’s intention to provide requested information that does not fall under any of the exemptions in this law in the simplest format, and in the most expeditious manner possible, at minimal or no cost.  

Often, information is readily available, can be sent electronically, and little or no cost is incurred.  In those cases, we will not charge for the provision of requested information.

However, when the District’s personnel are required to pull and copy records or create an original document from several source documents, it may be necessary to charge fees, not to exceed actual costs, at the following rates:

• Cost per Copy $.10 for copies made, each black & white image or impression, or $.80 per copy for color.

• Cost of Supervisory or Administrative labor $60 per hour.

• Cost of Clerical labor $25 per hour “straight time,” $38 per hour for overtime.

• Rates attempt to capture employee benefits costs as well as gross salary.

Reasonable efforts will be made to produce records at the lowest possible cost.  This work will be assigned to the lowest paid employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the search, retrieval, and, if appropriate, redaction so that under normal circumstances, the billing rate will be $25 or $38 per hour, depending on whether FLSA overtime is accrued.

Records requests involving specialized, technical, or confidential information, or otherwise requiring redaction, will often require an employee with a higher salary to perform the search, retrieval, and/or redaction. The fee rate, accordingly, will move to the $60 per hour rate.  
The fee schedule may vary from time to time as hourly wages, salaries, and commercially reasonable copying costs change. Fees will not be charged for examination and review of documents to determine if the documents are subject to disclosure.

Any questions regarding this policy or these rates should be directed to the Assistant Superintendent for Finance & Operations or the District Public Information Officer at 864.279.6000.