MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Proponents of the state’s open meetings law were handed a huge victory Thursday morning.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a series of Appleton School District meetings that were closed to the public should have been open.
District taxpayer John Krueger filed the suit after being denied attendance to nine committee meetings between October 2011 and March 2012.
Krueger had raised concerns about sexual themes and obscene language in 9th grade English books.
When he requested an alternate course that did not use those books be offered, two school administrators created a 17-member committee to review 90 fiction books.
The committee recommended 23 of those books to the district’s Programs and Services Committee, which adopted the list in April 2012.
Krueger sued the district, alleging it violated Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Act.
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty Attorney Rick Esenberg argued the case.
“The open meetings law should be read broadly and flexibly in favor of open government. This wasn’t a case really about textbooks. The point here really is to validate the open meetings law and make clear that the public should be given access to meetings like this.”
Esenberg believes Thursday’s decision will have major ramifications.
“This goes beyond what happened to John Krueger or our particular case. It’s basically saying that when a governmental body says ‘we want a decision to be conducted,’ even if it’s only a recommendation, that needs to be open.”
Both a circuit court and appeals court sided with the district, claiming the committee, which was not created by elected officials, was not a government body.
The state Supreme Court disagreed.
