My 14 day notice letter to the Attorney General. Now I know why BOCES is in the cafeteria.

My 14 day notice letter to the Attorney General

I wrote back in early June about how I sent a CORA request to the AG's office which they denied. The request was simply for the names of the outside lawyers he hired which were redacted out of a TOPS expense report.

At the end of that particular post (see the first link below for more context and/or a reminder), I wrote the following:

"I'm not going away quietly and the issue is far from dropped. To the extent that it is legal to do so, you and I have a right to know where our AG is sending our money."

After a false start and some time needed for research, I am at the point where I am going to move ahead. I thought I might share some details on the process as I go so you have something to use as a reference if you ever find a state agency denying your CORA requests.

I understand fully how doing this stuff with a small budget and mostly on your own can be daunting.

I turned, as I often have,** to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition's helpful guide to CORA requests. It is linked second below. I took screenshots of the relevant portions relating to what to do if your request is denied and attached them as 1a and 1b.

I am at the point in the process which you'll see at the top of 1b, I am ready to start the litigation process.

As a quick aside, if you use CFOIC's template CORA letter (available in the second link), your letter will automatically have the language in it to ask for an explanation of your denial, per 1a. I want to also note that a follow up email went to the AG's office per the second header in 1a, this follow up asking for clarification went, as so many things that go to the AG's office do, unanswered.

I have chosen to fund going to court with the AG's office. I do not believe this denial to be proper. How can the names of people you and I paid to do a job be something we can't know?

I also do not believe that the way the records custodian handled the denial was proper.

The first step prior to filing in court is to send in a 14 day notice of intent to file. I put a redacted copy of my letter in the third link below. This is a public document, so feel free to download it and use it as a template if you find yourself in a similar situation. You can also share it with anyone you know of who might find it helpful.

This letter was emailed yesterday and the AG's office has 14 days to respond before I hire an attorney and start the court process.

I will update you as I work my way through things. Given the speed at which courts move, coupled with the constraints I have, it may be a while, but stay tuned.

**CFOIC has been helpful in more ways than I can count about helping me learn how to do records requests and with this particular process. Give some thoughtful consideration to a donation to them if this is a passion for you.

https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/why-does-the-ags-office-redact-outside?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

https://coloradofoic.org/open-government-guide/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15h41Qvxy5pL4mxqegr5wvFERcVedPCYC/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113451218632854191614&rtpof=true&sd=true

Now I know why BOCES is in the cafeteria.

If education is an interest, check out the Independence Institute report linked first below. It isn't so much about Colorado policy, at least not in the sense of advocating for something, but it is an interesting lesson in what makes education in Colorado different.

Since working up here at the college in Sterling, I've noted that once or twice a year there will be a BOCES group in the cafeteria. I knew it had something to do with schools in Colorado, but wasn't quite sure what it was. Usually I'm so focused on eating by that point that I forget to follow up and look it up online. I just nod at the cashier telling me it's BOCES.

Screenshot 1 attached, taken from the summary of the report gives some basic background on what BOCES is and how it was formed.

That second bullet point gives a clue as to why NE Colorado BOCES (see their webpage linked second below) likely has lunch and conferences here. I can tell you it's not likely the cafeteria food drawing them.

I will leave it to you to read up in depth on the topic in the report if this is of interest.

Whether you continue reading on the topic or not, I hope you can appreciate how innovative Colorado is with regard to education and how important a thing that is. Students are not stamped out at a factory; I can tell you as a teacher that the way people learn is just as individual as any of their other characteristics.

As such, we are wise to continue the tradition we have in this state of allowing innovation and multiple approaches to instructing our young ones.

https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/IP_5_2025_a.pdf

https://www.neboces.org/