GOODRICH, Mich. – If government had to survive in the private sector, it’d go out of business. Efficiency and customer service are rarely a priority.

A Michigan parent had a seemingly simple request of her local school district: any emails regarding her son over the last 14 months.

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The Freedom of Information Act request included the wording, “but not limited to emails between Goodrich Area Schools employees, Genesee Intermediate School District employees, Michigan Department of Education employees, etc.”

Sherry Smith’s inquiry stems from her disagreement with her child’s individualized education program, which is created by the school.

The response shocked her: the Goodrich district would turn over the records–for $77,718.75!

“They know full well we won’t pay that. What are we supposed to do?” Smith tells Mlive. “Remortgage our house? In essence, they are denying our request to give me information about our child.

“I decided to request their inner office emails among staff related to my son for the past year,” the mother says.

The school district claims it would need to “contract an employee” to conduct the search.

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The official estimate for the numbers of hours required to fulfill the request? A mere 4,687.5!

Assuming an employee is working 8 hours a day, that equates to over 585 days of searching–or 2.2 work years (based on a typical 260-day work year).

“These are emails that, as parents, we should have been included or cc’d on — all email conversations regarding our child in the first place,” Sherry’s husband, Kevin Smith, tells the paper.

It would not be the first time a school district demanded an exorbitant amount of money, arguably to keep records out of public view.

Nevada parent John Eppolito wanted to know what personal information his state Department of Education was keeping on his daughter.

“… the Department’s Director of Information Technology… has estimated that the cost will be approximately $10,194,” was the response last year.

“Please understand,” wrote Judy Osgood, department public information officer, “that the primary purpose of the Department of Education’s [database] is to support required state and federal reporting, funding of local education agencies, education accountability, and public reporting. The system currently is not capable of responding to the type of individual student data request you have presented.”

“They can give information on my children to third parties, but I can’t see it?” says Eppolito.

He and the Smiths can–if they’re willing to remortgage their houses.