February 25, 1987
Mr. William 8. Miller Opinion NO. m-638
Executive Director
Texas School for the Blind Be: Whether local school dis-
1100 West 45th Street tricts are required to furnish
Austin, Texas 78756 names and addresses of parents
of blind students to the Texas
School for the Blind
Dear Mr. Xiller:
You have requested an opinion from this office. In your request
letter, you stated:
Section 21.507(e) of the Texas Education Code
provides-that local school districts shall provide
parents of handicapped students with written
information about:
(1) the availability of programs offered by
state institutions for which the district’s
students may be eligible.
(2) the eligibility requirements and admission
conditions imposed by each of those state institu-
tions, and
(3) the rights of students regarding admission
to those state institutions and appeals from
admission decisions.
Subsection (g) of section 21.507 provides that
the Texas School for the Blind Itself may provide
the written information required by subsection (c)
directly to parents.
The Texas School for the Blind would like to
provide Information on its programs directly to
parents of visually impaired students. In order
to provide the information directly. we need to be
able to obtain the aaxes and addresses of the
parents of blind and visually impaired students.
Therefore, I request your opinion on the following
questions:
p. 2887
Mr. William E. Rfller - Page 2 (JIG638)
1. Are local school districts required to
provide to the Texas School for the Blind upon
request, the names and addresses of parents of
blind and visually impaired students in their
districts?
2. If the names and addresses of parents of
blind and visually impaired students have already
been given to another state agency by che’local
school district, is that state agency required to
provide the information to the Texas School for
the Blind upon request?
Neither section 21.507 nor any other statute of which we are
aware imposes on school districts or on state agencies a duty to
provide to the School for the Blind the information to which you
refer. If the school wishes to obtain this information, ic may
request it under the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S.
Pursuant to this act, a school district or a state agency from which
this information is requested would be obligated to release it unless
the entity believed chat an exception in section 3(a) of the act
applied tomthe information. In that event, and assuming that no prior
~decision of this office resolves the matter, the entity would be
obligated to request our decision regarding the availability- of the
information, V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17a. 17(a): see Open Records Decision
No. 435 (ls86), and. ve would issue such adecision. See also 20
U.S.C. s1232g.
SUMMARY
If the School for the Blind wishes to obtain
from a school district or a state agency the names
and addresses of the parents of visually impaired
students, it should submit to these entities a
vritten request for this information. If an
eotity wishes to deny the request under section
3(a) of the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a.
V.T.C.S., it must seek our decision in the matter.
JIH MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas
JACK EICRTOWEX
First Assistant Attorney General
MARYRBLLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General
P. 2888
Mr. Willism Ii. Miller - Page 3 (m-638)
RICK CILPIN
Chairman. Opinion Committee
Prepared by Jon Bible
Assistant Attorney General
p. 2889
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion