Home > Legal Docket > Education Law Center v. NJDOE

The Department of Education improperly withheld the names of volunteers selected to review charter school applications.

New Jersey Superior Court, Mercer County/Direct

Bobby Conner/ACLU-NJ

On March 4, 2011, the ACLU-NJ filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) on behalf of the Education Law Center (ELC) seeking access to documents identifying volunteers used during in the charter school selection process. The Education Law Center (ELC), a nonprofit organization that advocates for equal access to adequate education, submitted a request to the DOE on November 24, 2010 concerning individuals chosen to review charter school applications. On December 22, 2010, the Department of Education (DOE) provided electronic correspondence between DOE employees and volunteers with all volunteers' identities and e-mail addresses redacted in order to keep that information "confidential." The DOE also refused to provide the volunteers’ identities pursuant to the common law right of access. The agency did release other requested documents, including a Power Point presentation used to train the volunteers and redacted correspondence. On November 17, 2011 the Department of Education released the names of the volunteers along with the unredacted version of the emails that they had previously provided.

Related Content