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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Jessi Heiner and Liz Silva have requested public records from the Houston Independent School District in the past.

But, they said, one of their latest requests for copies of Superintendent Mike Miles’ emails has been an ongoing back-and-forth, and they don’t know how it will end.

“It’s really easy to submit the request. It’s really hard to actually get the information that you’re requesting,” Silva said.

Heiner, with the Houston Federation of Teachers, teamed up with Silva and about eight others to request copies of 16 months’ worth of Miles’ emails to what they believe is his internal HISD address, not the one listed on the district’s website.

Silva said she was having trouble getting information on why decisions were being made at her children’s school.

Heiner said she was interested in the $4.4 billion bond that was on the ballot in 2024.

They said they hoped the emails they requested would answer their questions.

“My children’s school’s as transparent as they can be. It’s more so what’s happening above them,” Silva said.

Normally, a public records request is simple. We make a request, the state attorney general confirms what has to be released, and we may pay a small fee.

But with HISD, it’s often a battle. The district is actively suing the Texas Attorney General just to keep us in the dark on an unrelated request we sent, saying attorney-client privilege should apply. That’s been our fight.

SEE ALSO: Houston ISD sues state AG to keep PR firm emails from 13 Investigates

Silva and Heiner are fighting too, but theirs looks different.

In October 2024, Heiner sent the group’s request for Miles’ emails. About two weeks later, an outside law firm paid by HISD sent over an initial cost estimate to Heiner for $2,446.80, and said they may still ask the attorney general what had to be released.

Heiner, Silva, and a couple of others got together and paid the invoice.

Then Heiner said the law firm hired by HISD sent a 25-page memo to the attorney general’s office arguing that they should be able to withhold certain information for a number of reasons, including attorney-client privilege.

Before the attorney general issued a ruling, the law firm told Heiner it would be about $1,891.20 more than they originally estimated.

Heiner said she was confused because nothing had changed on her end, but the attorneys noted that, because the request was broad, it was going to take a “substantial amount” of time to compile the emails and redact them.

In an attempt to reduce the additional cost, Heiner said she narrowed the request to a year of emails, rather than about a year and a half.

The law firm hired by the district said it would only be roughly $400 more after the change. The district said that amount was based on documents they deemed public and not subject to the attorney general’s ruling.

Heiner and the group paid for it, but nothing was released to them.

Then came the attorney general’s ruling, saying much of Miles’s emails had to be turned over.

The law firm paid by HISD sent Heiner a new bill saying it would now cost $8,172.00 in total to gather the information.

“It’s not hard to speculate that the reason the cost keeps going up is to make it inaccessible,” Silva said.

Heiner filed a cost complaint with the attorney general’s office, and HISD’s attorneys were forced to explain how they arrived at their $8,172 cost estimate.

HISD’s letter to the attorney general shows a detailed breakdown of how long it believes it will take to gather and redact the 49,000 pages Heiner requested, saying an “excessively burdensome data dump” is not why the Texas Public Information Act was created.

The district’s attorneys say the cost increased because the AG required HISD to release more emails than they initially planned.

“Ultimately, now what they’re saying is that it’s going to take 52 full days of one person full-time to do that, like 400 hours, and that is just absurd,” Heiner said.

Right now, after the cost complaint, the total cost for the emails is $7,571.60.

Silva and Heiner said they wonder how that cost compares to the district’s bill with the law firm to fight releasing the records and justifying the price tag.

“We’re probably spending more as taxpayers than we are to just get the information,” Heiner said.

Heiner said they are trying to decide if they are going to pay the updated cost estimate, which would be another $4,700, with no guarantee that it’s the final cost.

This request is now more than a year old, but Heiner said they’re still interested in the information.

HISD told us in a statement that the attorney general determined their labor estimates were legal.

“Ms. Heiner submitted a Texas Public Information Act request seeking all emails sent to or from Superintendent Mike Miles over a 16-month period, without keywords or other limits, resulting in nearly 80,000 pages of responsive records. She later narrowed the timeframe, but the request continued to require extensive review and redaction of confidential information. As processing progressed and the full scope of the records became clear, the District issued updated cost estimates consistent with the Texas Public Information Act and Attorney General guidance,” HISD said in a statement.

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