Per FOIA, the public body may establish and collect reasonable fees not to exceed the actual costs of searching for, retrieving, redacting, and reproducing records requested under the FOIA in accordance with S.C. Ann. 30-4-30 (B).

 

Individuals requesting documents from CCSD should assume that a fee will be assessed for all requests. The requester will be invoiced, and payment is required in full before the public records are released. A deposit not to exceed twenty-five percent of the total reasonably anticipated cost for reproduction of the records will be required prior to CCSD searching for or making copies of records.

 

CCSD encourages specificity for all requests. If you are uncertain about which records contain the information you desire, provide a description of the type of information you are searching for. Every attempt will be made to locate the relevant records.

Please note that the fees specified above are subject to change based on the prevailing FOIA regulations, and the Charleston County School District reserves the right to update the fee schedule as required. 

DOWNLOAD: FOIA Request Form

For all reviews, the review for redaction by members of the CCSD FOIA team will cost $20 per hour.      

Copy & Fee Schedule:

• $ 5.00 per disc
• $ .011 per B/W – Letter size
• $ .062 per Color – Letter size
• $ .0156 per B/W – Legal size
• $ .0698 per Color – Legal 

*$20 per hour for search, retrieval, review, and redaction

*CCSD reserves the right to change the hourly fee based the prorated hourly salary of the lowest paid employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request.

Other Notes:

CCSD may request a hearing with the circuit court to seek relief from unduly burdensome, overly broad, vague, repetitive, or otherwise improper requests, or where it has received a request but it is unable to make a good faith determination as to whether the information is exempt from disclosure. If a request for disclosure may result in the release of records or information exempt from disclosure pursuant to FOIA, a person or entity with a specific interest in the underlying records or information has the right to request a hearing with the court or to intervene in an action previously filed.

For public records that are not archived by the District, additional retrieval fees will apply. For example, requests for text messages will incur a minimum charge of $50 per phone for retrieval costs, in addition to the hourly rate of IT personnel to conduct the retrieval.

You may request to review or receive public records of the Charleston County School District pursuant to the state’s Freedom of Information Act by completing the Freedom of Information Act Request Form. Please send the completed form via any one of the three options noted below. Your FOIA request should clearly and specifically describe the records sought, and include detailed identifying information (e.g., names, places, and the period of time). 

All requests for information under FOIA must be submitting in writing to:

Mail:

Email:

foia@charleston.k12.sc.us
 

FAX:

843-937-6307

Under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act S.C. Code Ann. 30-4-20, the “public record” is defined as “all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body.” 

If it is determined that a request is not covered under FOIA, the request will be forwarded to the appropriate department for a response. FOIA does not require the Charleston County School District to create or generate records that do not exist, nor does it require information be formatted in a particular manner or file type. Certain records may be exempted from release by FOIA and/or the Family Educational Privacy Act (FERPA). 

Timeframe

Under FOIA, the Charleston County School District has ten (10) business days (excluding weekends and holidays) to notify the requester of the public availability of the record. Once notification has taken place, the district has an additional 30 calendar days to produce the requested information. For records that are more than 24 months old, the initial notification deadline is 20 business days, and the deadline for producing the requested information is 35 calendar days.

Mailing Fee Schedule:

Mailing costs will be assessed as charged by the U.S. Postal Service. 

**Non-standard sizes will be billed at the actual cost to the Charleston County School District**

The Charleston County School District prefers to transmit responses electronically, via email, if that option is available. No mailing cost will be incurred if the response is sent via email. 
 

Referral of Requests to the Office of General Counsel

The Office of General Counsel coordinates with the Office of Strategy and Communications on all FOIA requests. Certain requests that may involve ongoing litigation, student, personnel, trade secret, or other separate statutory exemptions from the release will be handled by the General Counsel. 
 

Family Privacy Protection Act Notice

Obtaining or using personal information obtained from a state agency for commercial solicitation is prohibited pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. 30-2-50. Violators are subject to criminal prosecution.