The Corruption Apparent at the Miserably Performing KIPP MN Academy as Indicated in Resistance to Data Requests from Citizen King Freeman

Email sent by King Freeman on 15 September 2025 in response to communication from KIPP attorney John P. Edison  >>>>>

 

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Dear Mr. Edison,

 

Your letter and the decision to route a straightforward data request through outside counsel only heighten my concern about KIPP MN’s approach to this matter. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA), public data must be made accessible, and when data exist electronically, they must be provided in electronic form if reasonably possible. Payroll and staffing data clearly fall within that category.

 

KIPP MN, like every charter school in Minnesota, already maintains and reports salary and position data to multiple entities:

 

To the Minnesota Department of Education via STAR and UFARS submissions;

 

Through its payroll/HR system, which tracks employee names, positions, pay rates, and pay dates;

 

To the IRS in Form 990 reporting for nonprofit entities.

 

 

These processes require electronic records, which can be exported as spreadsheets. That is not “creating new data”; it is exporting data KIPP MN is already obligated to maintain and submit.

 

No one disputes that fulfilling this request may take some staff time. If you had estimated $50 for an hour of work, that might have been reasonable. But estimating $500 for “10 hours” of work to export data that is already maintained electronically is excessive and inconsistent with the law’s “actual cost” standard. By contrast, neighboring districts — many of them larger and with far more complex payroll systems — provide electronic staffing and payroll exports at no charge, limiting fees only to paper copies when applicable. KIPP MN’s stance is therefore not only out of step with the statute but also with common practice.

 

It is also difficult to understand why KIPP MN chose to involve outside counsel for this routine request. The legal fees required to review and draft your letter almost certainly equal or exceed the $500 “estimate” you propose to charge for an electronic export. Choosing to spend organizational funds on attorney correspondence instead of simply providing data already required for MDE and IRS reporting creates the appearance that KIPP MN is more interested in obstruction than in compliance.

 

To move forward, I require the following:

 

1. Identification of the position used to calculate the $51.86 hourly rate, including whether that figure includes benefits.

 

 

2. A task-by-task explanation of how the 10-hour estimate was derived.

 

 

3. Confirmation of why the payroll/HR system or STAR/UFARS data cannot be exported directly in the requested format.

 

 

 

My request remains active. I expect KIPP MN to comply with Minn. Stat. § 13.03, subd. 3(e), and provide the data in the electronic form in which it already exists, at actual cost. If KIPP MN continues to impose unreasonable barriers, I will escalate this matter to the Minnesota Department of Education, the Commissioner of Administration, and other appropriate oversight bodies.

 

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

 

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The 15 September 2025 email from KIPP attorney John P. Edison that engendered King Freemans’s reply >>>>>

 

On Monday, September 15th, 2025 at 8:52 AM, John P. Edison <John.Edison@raswlaw.com> wrote:

Dear King Freeman:

 

At the request of Dr. Shana Ford, CEO of KIPP MN, I write regarding your September 9, 2025 email correspondence. KIPP MN disagrees that it did not provide a sufficient breakdown of the estimated cost.  Dr. Ford explained the basis for the estimate in her September 8, 2025 email to you. 

 

You asked that data be provided to you as follows:  “Electronic spreadsheet or database format preferred, organized by employee position/title and payment date.” KIPP MN does not maintain this type of electronic spreadsheet or database organized as you requested. Nonetheless, KIPP MN is willing to work with you to produce the spreadsheet you have requested provided you pay for the employee time that will be required to search for and retrieve the data you have requested. The cost of employee time will be billed at $51.86 per hour for processing your request.  As Dr. Ford explained, this charge is based on the rate of the lowest compensated person within the organization who is able to work on this request.

 

The 10 hours of time Dr. Ford mentioned in her September 8 email is an estimate.  As she explained on September 8, you would be provided a final cost for your data request based on the actual amount of time involved in searching for and retrieving the data you have requested. KIPP MN is not requiring you to provide “prepayment” before it begins processing your request.  However, you will need to confirm whether you will pay for the data you have requested.  The law does not require KIPP MN to provide you with copies of data before you actually pay for them.

 

If you do not confirm you will pay for the data you have requested, KIPP MN will not move forward with processing your request and it will consider your request to be withdrawn.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

John P. Edison

Shareholder Attorney

333 South Seventh Street, Suite 2800

Minneapolis, MN 55402

Direct: (612) 244-2748
Office: (612) 436-4300
Fax: (612) 436-4340
www.raswlaw.com

 

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