A Washington, D.C-based group filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the Florida Department of Education has not complied with a series of public records requests about high-profile issues.
The group American Oversight filed the lawsuit in Leon County circuit court, alleging that the department has not provided records sought in eight requests since May.
The group, at least in part, is seeking records related to a controversial 2022 law restricting how race-related issues can be taught in classrooms and a state decision this year to reject a proposed Advanced Placement African-American studies course.
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“To date, DOE has failed to produce a single record that is responsive to any of the eight requests at issue in this complaint,” the lawsuit said. “The first and second requests at issue in this complaint have been pending for over ten months now; the third request has been pending for over two months; and the fourth through eighth requests have been pending for more than one month at the time of the filing of this complaint. Each of these delays is beyond the limited reasonable amount of time allowed for retrieval, redaction and production of records.”
On its website, American Oversight describes itself as a non-profit watchdog that uses public records requests to “fight corruption, drive accountability and defend democracy.”
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