PROVO — The Provo School District told a member of its school board that she will have to pay $250 to $450 to obtain 3,600 pages of documents she requested.

On Thursday, school board member Sandy Packard sent a letter to Superintendent Randy Merrill citing her right to the records under Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act, more commonly known as GRAMA.

Packard seeks monthly financial records of each of the 13,000-student school district's elementary, middle and high schools.

She wants to compare the amount of money pouring into and out of each school's bank accounts, from student fees and donations to bills and other expenses.

In fact, she voted against the FY 2008 budget last week to protest the business office's failure to provide the documents.

"I have asked Kerry (Smith, the district business administrator) about it actually a couple years ago," Packard said. "And they said we would have it next year. I heard, 'We'll have it next year,' for two years now. I don't want to blame Kerry entirely, I know he has trouble with the principals getting them to record it in the (correct) form."

But Smith said Friday there are obstacles to giving the documents to Packard. They are not yet in an electronic format and would have to be photocopied at a cost of 5 cents a page, or about $180 for 3,600 pages.

Smith estimated it will take an employee eight hours to copy the documents, and Packard would have to pay for the employee's time, another $180.

If Packard wants the records in five business days, she would have to additionally pay for $90 in overtime wages. If Packard allows 10 days, Smith said the office could use lower-cost temporary help to bring the total cost of material and labor to about $250.

Packard called Smith's response outrageous.

On Monday, she told the superintendent that while she considers the costs, she would just like to review the most recently available financial statements for Provo and Timpview high schools.

David Reymann, a Salt Lake media attorney, said that under a GRAMA request, charging for employee wages is illegal.

"They are entitled to charge for the actual costs for duplication, but they are not entitled to charge for employee time, and they are not entitled to charge for overtime," said Reymann, who represents the Deseret Morning News.

For two years, the business office has provided the school board monthly information about school account balances, though without the detail Packard seeks.

If Packard's request would have been supported by a majority of the school board, the business office would provide the documents for free, Smith said.