The Michigan Supreme Court is staying out of a dispute over whether class materials prepared by public school teachers are available under the state’s records law.
The justices ruled in a one-sentence order Wednesday that they won’t disturb an appeals court decision that says teachers are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act.
In 2021, Carol Beth Litkouhi, a parent of a student at Rochester schools in suburban Detroit, filed a request for lesson plans and assignments related to a course on ethnic and gender studies. She sued after the district released only some records.
Litkouhi was concerned about whether a variety of perspectives were being taught, according to the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which represented her.
“Public school teachers do not qualify as ‘public bodies’ for purposes of … FOIA,” the appeals court said in February. “Their records are therefore not subject to disclosure under FOIA under those provisions.”