A state lawmaker requested public records from a West Valley school district. The district says it’ll cost $26,000.
Earlier this year, the Isaac Elementary School District in Phoenix went under financial receivership.
The nearby Tolleson Unified High School District bailed the Isaac district out through a complicated building sale.
Lawmakers have been looking into the two districts’ dealings, but Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) claims Tolleson Superintendent Jeremy Calles is obstructing his investigation and his public records request.
“I think that the superintendent is being incredibly unhelpful and is essentially stonewalling our investigation,” Gress said.
Gress is suspicious because Calles worked as a consultant for Isaac and simultaneously served as the superintendent of Tolleson when the districts brokered a financial deal of $25 million to save Isaac.
Gress said he has the power to force the district to provide those records through a subpoena and is considering his options.
The Arizona Auditor General’s Office is currently working on an audit of the Isaac district, and Gress said he may want an audit of the Tolleson district too.
Calles said he is going to sue Gress for defaming his character.
“Representative Gress continues to use bullying and defamation tactics that he believes he is entitled to as an elected official,” Calles said in a statement. “My attorney will be filing defamation charges against Representative Gress and I will continue to supplement those charges as he continues to seek to defame me in the interest of his personal agenda.”
Calles said in emails to Gress that Gress’ records requests all claim to be in search of the same financial information, but are different.
“It's like someone asking for a football, then a hockey puck, then a tennis ball and then back to a football and saying, ‘well it's all athletic equipment so technically I haven't changed my request,’” Calles wrote in an email on Tuesday. He added in the message that he’s hired a law firm to deal with Gress on the records request issue.
Calles also filed his own public records requests for Gress’ communications.
Gress said the next meeting of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee at the state Capitol will have Tolleson on the agenda.
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