It's Sunshine Week; Sumter Item received more than 400 documents from FOIA requests in 2023

In the spirit of Sunshine Week, many may be curious about its significance, especially if the weather doesn't seem to match the name.

Sunshine Week has become one of my favorite things to recognize. From March 11 to March 15, we see nationally nonpartisan collaboration among different groups in journalism, government and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of access to public documents and open government.

I did not know where the term originated from, but I did some digging, like most reporters do when it comes to gaining access to documents. Sunshine Week derives from the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project, part of the Brechner Center for the Advancement of the First Amendment, according to the University of Florida. The project "is an incubator for ideas and initiatives that give the public timely and affordable access to the information necessary for informed, participatory citizens. The Freedom of Information Project educates journalists, policymakers and the general public about the law of access in today's world," according to its website.

Hence, the Freedom of Information Act is the United States federal freedom of information law which requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased or uncirculated information and documents controlled by a government, state or other public authority upon request, according to the FOIA website.

In layman's terms, FOIA is the law which ensures citizens are informed about their government and other organizations. Despite what my professors said during my time as a student, my experience at The Sumter Item has shown me that FOIA requests are needed more frequently than expected.

In preparation for Sunshine Week, I went through emails, paperwork and receipts and calculated exactly how many requests I have sent formally and informally to different entities for various articles in 2023.

Formally I have sent 14 in 2023 and one in 2024 at the time of writing this column. Out of those 14 FOIA requests, 10 were requests sent to Clarendon County School District, one was sent to Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments, one to Clarendon County Council regarding former County Administrator David Epperson and two regarding an investigation on a Clarendon County building inspector. In 2022, one FOIA request was sent to CCSD regarding Superintendent Shawn Johnson's contracts.

Out of the 10 requests sent to CCSD, The Item was charged for three, which totaled $347.40. At the time of writing this on Feb. 27, $17.40 of the total still has not been cleared after receiving a receipt of payment on Jan. 29, 2024. For $347.40, the number of documents received was more than 500. Out of the final total, $130 of it was roughly less than 150 pages, $200 worth was less than 15 pages, and $17.40 worth of documents sent was less than 60 pages.

The formal FOIA requests to other entities were roughly more than 300 pages spread throughout the different requests. This does not include documents received by sources regarding these topics as well. These entities never charged The Item for the documents.

I have sent a lot more informal FOIA requests than formal, and it's only because when reaching out to these entities, they asked what I was requesting and sent it over immediately or within a few days, and The Item was never charged a fee. From what I could find through emails, informal requests totaled upward of 116 requests in 2023, but there could be more.

These informal requests were mainly for Clarendon County administration members or entities within the county. What shocked me was the entities you would expect to demand a formal request from a journalist were the ones that sent documents with no issue after a simple phone call explaining what I was looking for. I have sent informal requests through numerous state agencies, including the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources; South Carolina Department of Transportation; South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; South Carolina Department of Education; and more. I have sent informal requests in Lee and Sumter counties.

The informal requests I have made resulted in more than 400 pages of documents given. Clarendon County School District stands out as the only entity to charge a fee to The Sumter Item for documents. It has also been late in providing them, sometimes incorrectly charging the newspaper. Media lawyers have been quoted numerous times stating where the district has violated FOIA laws.

That is what Sunshine Week is all about. We - journalists - recognize this week to continue to bring undisclosed information that should be public to citizens. Some entities might try to find a loophole in the law, but journalists most of the time get the information to inform readers.

As I have said in other columns, information for the public should not only be easily accessible, but it should also be free, transparent and easy to digest when looking through however many pages.

Happy Sunshine Week! For other reporters out there, let's keep doing our jobs to keep public officials accountable and our readers informed about what is going on within their government, school districts and other entities.

Ashley Miller is a reporter for The Sumter Item.