NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
96-ORD-240
November 11, 1996
In re: Ernest Anderson/Powell County Head Start
Open Records Decision
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from Powell County Head Start's handling of an open records request submitted by Ernest Anderson. On October 10, 1996, Mr. Anderson requested copies of “the gross monthly earning for the past thirty-six months for . . . Powell County Head Start employee Mrs. Alice Sue Parks Cunningham. . . .” Mr. Anderson states that he was unable to obtain these records under the Open Records Act. On October 15, 1996, he initiated this appeal.
On November 4, 1996, this office received a letter from Phillis Adams, Head Start Director. Ms. Adams advised us that funds to operate the Head Start Program are almost exclusively federal. In support, she furnished this office with a copy of the financial assistance award from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, confirming substantial federal funding.
We are asked to determine if Powell County Head Start violated provisions of the Open Records Act in its handling of Mr. Anderson's request. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the Head Start program is not a public agency, as defined in KRS 61.870(1)(a) through (k), and is therefore not subject to the provisions of the Act.
The federal Head Start program was created in 1965 to serve children of low income families. Funding for the program is awarded to local public or private non- profit agencies by the regional offices of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Although twenty percent of the total cost of a Head Start program must be contributed by the community, in the form of volunteers and in kind contributions, the remaining eighty percent of the program's funding is federal.
Powell County's Head Start program, which is part of Kentucky River Foothills Head Start, is operated by Kentucky River Foothills Development Council, a private, nonprofit Community Action Agency organized pursuant to KRS 273.405 to 273.453, with funds received from ACF. As such, it is subject to the Open Records Act only if it derives at least twenty-five percent of its funds from state or local authority funds. KRS 61.870(1)(h). Based on our review of the financial assistance award from ACF, and discussion with Ms. Adams and Adriel Woodman, executive director of the Kentucky River Foothills Development Council, we are persuaded that Powell County Head Start Program does not derive its funds from state or local authority funds, and is not a public agency for purposes of the Open Records Act. Inasmuch as its funding is almost exclusively federal, we conclude that it is not subject to the provisions of the Act. [1]
This decision should not be interpreted to exclude the Kentucky River Foothills Development Council from the application of the Open Records Act. In OAG 86-7, this office observed:
A review of the applicable statutes leads us to the conclusion that no across-the-board statement may be made as to whether all CAAs in Kentucky are “units of local, municipal, county, or state government.” Rather, the circumstances, such as the relationship between the CAA and the local government, and the activity under review must be considered as to each CAA in question. . . .
OAG 86-7, p. 5. Mr. Woodman acknowledges that various programs administered by the council receive state or local authority funds. Thus, resolution of the open records issue turns on the relationship between the council and local government, and the activity under review.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
A. B. Chandler III
Attorney General
Amye L. Bensenhaver
Assistant Attorney General
1244
Distributed to:
Ernest Anderson
P. O. Box 849
Stanton KY 40380-0849
Phillis Adams, Director
Kentucky River Foothills Head Start
501 South Keeneland Drive
Richmond KY 40475
Adriel Woodman
Executive Director
Kentucky River Foothills Head Start
501 South Keeneland Drive
Richmond KY 40475
[1] We do not address the question of the application of the federal Freedom of Information Act to the Head Start program.