Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman ruled that Scott County School District initially subverted the intent of the Kentucky Open Records Act when it failed to provide adequate explanation for delaying the release of records sought by resident Mike Scogin, though the district justified the delay upon appeal.

In a decision issued April 29, Scogin requested emails, text messages and memos among school board members and administration in early March 2026. The district invoked a statute allowing delays when records are in active use or require review, stating it would produce the documents by April 10. However, the Attorney General found the initial response lacked sufficient detail about why the delay was necessary.

The statute governing delays in the Kentucky Open Records Act requires public agencies to provide "a detailed explanation of the cause for further delay," but the district's initial response did not estimate how many records required review and redaction, according to the decision. The office has "regularly found" such explanations inadequate without record estimates, the decision states.

Upon appeal, the district provided more specific information, explaining it had reviewed "over a thousand records and thousands of pages" before making mandatory redactions required by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The Attorney General determined an eight-business-day delay to review and redact that volume of sensitive educational records was reasonable, given that FERPA violations could result in loss of federal funding.

The case highlights tensions between public access to government records and the need for agencies to protect sensitive information. Public records in Kentucky must be open for inspection unless exempted by one of fourteen exceptions found in the Open Records Act, but agencies can seek extensions when processing large requests.

Parties aggrieved by the decision may file an appeal in circuit court within 30 days, according to the Attorney General's ruling.