The Austin school district has charged dozens of parents, policy experts, journalists and other members of the public thousands of dollars in the past year for access to government records, raising concerns that the cost of obtaining information could keep residents from understanding how the district makes some of its most consequential decisions.

A log of invoices sent by Austin ISD to public information requestors, and obtained by Austin Current under the Texas Public Information Act, shows the district issued more than $172,000 in estimated fees through 80 invoices between June 10, 2025 and June 10, 2026. Only 13 requestors paid any portion of those invoices, totaling about $3,100, with the highest paid fee at $720. Many others faced costs they could not afford or chose not to pursue.

The 80 invoices represent a fraction of more than 1,200 public information requests received by the district during that time period, but experts say even fees allowed under state law can create a barrier when the costs reach so high. Costs associated with fulfilling public information requests are permitted under state law, but public information advocates are calling on lawmakers to revisit this provision during Texas’ upcoming 90th legislative session next spring.

The fees come as Austin ISD faces increased scrutiny over school closures, the redrawing of school boundaries and a historic budget crisis that has left many without a job. During a period when families, employees and community members are seeking more information about major district decisions, experts say the cost of obtaining records could discourage requestors from seeking documents that explain how those decisions are made.

David Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, said large fees are a growing problem in states where search and redaction fees can be charged. Those costs, he said, can have a chilling effect on people seeking information from their government.

Fees tend to make requesters, especially average people, go away, Cuillier said, citing recent studies. That, he said, may help explain why only about $3,100 of the more than $172,000 invoiced by Austin ISD were ultimately paid by requestors.

“Whoever got the big bills decided to give up, which is the objective of most agencies,” Cuillier said. “I can’t speak for this school district, but even if their intentions are good, the outcome is the same: Average people are shut out of their government because of these exorbitant fees.”

The price of accessing public records

Under the Texas Public Information Act, government agencies are allowed to charge for paper or electronic records. The fees are intended to cover costs associated with producing those records, but transparency advocates say the charges can become a barrier when the estimates reach thousands of dollars.

With some exceptions and depending on the size of the governmental body, quantity of the records and time required to prepare the records, the amount typically includes all costs associated with reproducing the information, such as materials, labor and an overhead fee.

Costs approved under the law include:

• $0.10 per page for paper copies
• $1.00 per CD
• $3.00 per DVD
• Actual costs for a USB or hard drive
• $15.00 per hour for labor
• 20% of the labor as overhead
• $28.50 per hour for programming

Austin Current has received nearly $4,500 in invoices for records requested from Austin ISD, including for contracts entered into under the 2022 bond program, communications between district leaders about budget cuts and 1882 partnerships and community survey responses. The estimates were based on the number of records the district determined were responsive to each request, the amount of time staff estimated it would take to review the records and a 20% optional overhead fee, which the district levied in each case.

In one instance, Austin ISD declined Austin Current’s request to waive the 20% additional fee.

News organizations routinely request information from government agencies, including school districts, for fact-gathering and request waiver of the fees because the disclosure of the information is in the public interest; such agencies frequently waive the costs.

Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said her organization has recently seen a trend of high costs for public information requests across institutions throughout the state, including some “outlandish” estimates in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those costs, she said, can intimidate people from seeking information in the first place or lead requestors to abandon requests they cannot afford to complete.

Shannon said her organization has been particularly concerned with the 20% overhead cost provision, which she said should be revisited by lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session.

“That is a real problem because it does not relate to any line item on your estimated cost, it is just a number they can throw on at the end and there is no reason for it,” Shannon said. “They are allowed to do that and agencies do it and theoretically they are earning a 20% profit on the whole thing.”

Costs put records out of reach

Kate Bierly, Next Generation Texas campaign director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said she received an invoice for over $14,000 from Austin ISD for records related to student walkouts over Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.

She said the district told her there were over 80,000 emails responsive to her request, and the estimated cost was based on reviewing 100 pages per hour at a rate of $15 per hour. Bierly said she then asked the district for the raw data to avoid review fees, but was told the district was required to review the records prior to releasing them.

Records reviewed by Austin Current show Bierly was also charged over $5,000 for a separate request earlier in the school year.

“It was too much,” Bierly said, adding she did not have $14,000 to pay and was not able to obtain any of the records. She said she has previously requested records from multiple districts across Texas in her professional capacity, and though she has been charged by some, none have compared with the estimates provided by Austin ISD.

“Austin ISD is such an outlier, I have not received another invoice to a comparable amount to Austin ISD,” Bierly said. “As a lot of time goes by and 10 days becomes another 10 days and another 10 days, oftentimes I can assume people will just be like ‘forget about it, I don’t want to do this anymore,’ because it is a long time between the start and the end.”

Austin ISD said in an emailed statement that the district makes records available to requestors and does so in compliance with the Texas Public Information Act. The district said some requests require significant staff time to review and process, resulting in estimates for the cost of fulfilling those requests.

“On occasion, Austin ISD will receive requests that are labor and time intensive,” the statement said. “Accordingly, consistent with Texas Government Code Section 552.261, Austin ISD will provide time and cost estimates to requestors for the records they seek.”

“We understand some requestors may make broad requests while looking for specific information,” the statement said. “In these cases, we communicate to requestors the option to narrow the request for cost savings. All invoices are broken down and itemized to provide transparency to the requestor.”

The district provides details on the option to narrow requests to minimize costs and clarify the information being sought, the statement continued. Upon request, the district said it will work with requestors to provide examples of how to refine their requests.

According to the district’s statement, each document review is conducted by an individual member of the district’s Public Information Act team, which consists of three employees. Only one of those employees works full time on public information act matters.

The review aims to confirm responsiveness and identify information that is excepted from disclosure and must be redacted, including anything deemed confidential under law such as student information and account numbers.

“While technology has assisted with efficiency in processing PIA requests, there remains a considerable human element in ensuring (with care) that information that is excepted from disclosures is redacted from public records,” the district’s statement said.

Austin ISD said in the statement the district has seen an increase in the amount of broad requests, which return a high number of documents, leading to more staff time to fulfill them. During the 2025-26 fiscal year, the district received 1,288 requests, up 33% from the year prior.

Calls for a Public Information Act overhaul

James Quintero, policy director for Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Taxpayer Protection Project, said his organization has long examined the scope and application of Public Information Act exemptions and worked with other advocates to call for changes to the state’s public information law.

He said the law is intended to ensure governments provide people with information that rightfully belongs to the public.

“We are so distant from that framework today that it is almost unrecognizable,” Quintero said.

“This problem has been around for quite a long time and it is really unfortunate because the trend seems to be in the direction of government secrecy or the disclosure of public information if you can afford it,” Quintero said. “That is not consonant with the spirit of chapter 552 of the government code.”

Quintero said the charges his organization has seen by local governments across Texas are often out of reach for the average person.

As advocates look ahead to the upcoming 90th Texas Legislative Session, he said he hopes lawmakers will revisit the fees allowed under the Public Information Act and reduce them as much as possible.

“It should not take a second job to pay for a public information act request to be satisfied,” Quintero said.