County officials in only 25 of North Carolina's 100 counties provide all four public documents that are requested of them, according to the results of a research project conducted by communication studies students at Campbell University (CU), an institution 30 miles south of Raleigh.
Those are the findings from Prof. Ed Johnson’s research methods course this semester. Johnson worked with colleague Dan Maynard, CU research librarian. Their 10 students sent letters requesting four public documents related to state funded school construction in each county. The requests were sent to the superintendent of schools, chair of the school board, county manager and chair of county commissioners for each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. The students asked to receive responses within two weeks. No response at all was received from any official in seven of the state’s 100 counties.
“Our goal was to explore the responsiveness of our county officials to provide public information,” said Johnson, a communication studies professor who earned a doctorate in research at University of Alabama. “Students conducted primary research and learned first-hand about the need for a free flow of information for democracy to work well.”
Each letter requested four items related to specific school construction projects. These documents are 1) the application to the state for funds, 2) the state board’s certification of review, 3) a listing of the checks written against the disbursement account for this project, and 4) the final report of the project.
Johnson’s students said that the experience is helping them appreciate the difficulty of getting information from some public officials.
“Not only does the public have the right to ask questions, but they need to ask questions in order to hold the county officials accountable,” said junior Christy Connolly, Waldorf, Md., adding access to public records helps citizens know the questions to ask.
Junior Hannah Zurn, Morrison, Ill., agreed. “This project has taught me how important it is to hold our elected officials accountable to upholding the responsibilities that they have taken on,” she said.