Judge Orders School District to Release Records

This Tacoma News-Tribune story describes how a judge ordered the Federal Way School District to turn over records regarding a teacher's alleged sexual contact with a student.

On one hand it's great that a disclosable document was turned over. But on the other hand, it's ridiculous that a requestor must pay thousands of dollars for its own attorneys fees, as the TNT did, to get a clearly disclosable record. Make a valid public records request and it will cost you thousands of dollars--what a great way to punish people for making requests.

And it's currently the law in Washington. It needs to change.