The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) is a tool for the public to request public documents. Under the law, public institutions—including charter schools—must make their public records open for inspection by any person within a reasonable time, with some exceptions.
During the 2023 legislative session, Senate Bill 23-286 [pdf] was signed into law, making some revisions to CORA. The revisions will impact school policies and practices related to open records requests. An advisory bulletin and sample policy are provided below.
Research and Retrieval Fee Update
The maximum hourly fee for the research and retrieval of public documents in response to a CORA Request increased from $33.58 to $41.37 on July 1, 2024. A CSI school can charge this hourly fee for the research and retrieval of public documents, although the school cannot charge a fee for the first hour of time expended on each request. Before increasing the fee, the school must revise and publish their Colorado Open Records Act policies to include the new fee. The new hourly fee is included in CSI’s sample policy below.
Contact:
Stephanie Aragon
CSI Director of Policy