The Toronto District School Board wants $3.6 million from the Star before it releases a database of work orders showing what taxpayers have been charged for maintenance and construction projects at local schools.

The Star’s ongoing investigation has already turned up high costs — almost $3,000 to install an electrical outlet, $143 to screw in a pencil sharpener, and other examples.

TDSB education director Chris Spence contacted the Star late Wednesday to say he had heard there was some “concern about the cost” in getting access to the work order database and that the board was determined to fill the request. He said the board’s freedom of information office is willing to work with the Star to “get the information you need.”

Last month, the Star asked for an electronic copy showing three years of work at the TDSB to get a handle on the extent of the problem. The request was made under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which helps the public, media included, bring scrutiny to bear on government and government-funded agencies.

TDSB lawyer Giselle Basanta has written to the Star saying she believes “partial access to the records will be granted.” First, though, she said, there is the issue of fees. Basanta, the board’s freedom of information co-ordinator, estimates it would cost the school board:

• $1,125,000 to search for the records in the SAP database, which would take 37,500 hours at $30 per hour

• $1,350,000 to prepare the records for release, which would take 45,000 hours at $30 per hour. She estimates one-quarter of the records would have to be “severed,” to remove information they objected to releasing. The Star has seen sample pages from the records and there is no personal information, which is typically the type of information removed.

• $1,080,000 to photocopy the records, even though the Star asked for an electronic copy of the database. The TDSB said there are 5.4 million pages detailing the work orders and the charge levied would be 20 cents a page.

Toronto Star reporter Jim Rankin, an expert in obtaining electronic databases, recalls a whopping $1.6 million fee estimate he received in 2003 when he asked the RCMP for access (under the federal access to information law) to Canadian criminal record information. The Star challenged the fee and two years later received the requested data at no charge. The original estimate was based on antiquated regulations that mention costs associated with duplicating microfilm and “magnetic tape-to-tape duplication.”

In the school board’s case, the data is stored on a modern SAP system, and obtaining an electronic copy would be relatively easy.

The work orders at issue detail and track jobs done by the 900-strong Maintenance and Skilled Trades Council, which has an exclusive contract to perform electrical, carpentry, plumbing and other trade work at Toronto’s public schools. The workers are represented by the council, run by leader Jimmy Hazel, but they are employees of the TDSB.

The SAP database shows when a work order is requested by a school, when the work is done, how many hours are charged, how many workers are involved and other details.

Since the Star began publishing stories on the issue in June, teachers, principals and parents have flooded the newspaper with calls and emails complaining about high costs, slow work and crumbling schools. The TDSB has responded to the stories by promising to put GPS tracking devices on trades vehicles and working closely with principals to develop plans for priority jobs.

TDSB chair Chris Bolton has said that a series of plans for the fall, plus some already implemented, will bring “greater transparency and accountability” to the board.

To proceed with the request, Basanta said the Star must provide a cheque for $1,777,500 as a 50-per-cent deposit so the school board can “continue to address your request.”

In her letter, the lawyer invites the Star to apply for a “fee waiver” or abbreviate the size of the request.

The Star has written Basanta signalling that the paper will both request a fee waiver and appeal the school board’s decision to the provincial Information and Privacy Commission.

TDSB communications manager Shari Schwartz-Maltz said she was unaware of the fee estimate. “This is the first I heard of it. There is a way to make this work,” Schwartz-Maltz said of the request.

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She said the TDSB’s freedom of information office is willing to discuss the issue further. “This is not an end game.”

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Toronto schools pay high prices for small jobs