The first time I submitted a public records request was back in 2018. As a mother of three children in the Somerset Public School district, I joined other parents in attending a school committee meeting asking for security updates after the Parkland shooting. The school district hadn’t made any upgrades to our district in years, and we finally spoke up. The district somehow found over a half a million dollars in their existing budget that year to fund all the necessary security upgrades and I submitted a request to the district to see how they spent the money.
What I got was a treasure trove of documents that showed me how our district spent a half a million dollars, with some items not even being related to safety improvements. I was able to look at invoices and purchase orders, requests for supplies and emails. I realized then how powerful the Massachusetts Public Records Act request really could be.
The Massachusetts Public Records Law gives the public the right to access, inspect, and copy public records from Massachusetts agencies and municipalities. I can’t say this enough: it is a very powerful tool each taxpayer has…