From The Paper of Montgomery County (Crawfordsville:
Q: It was my understanding that the window to print school financial reports a public notices closes today, and we printed them in today’s paper.
We did not see the reports printed in our competition. If schools fail to publish by the deadline, would they still be required to have it printed outside the printing window? Is there any penalty from the state for missing the deadline?
A: Even if school districts miss the window, they should still publish as soon as possible.
Under Indiana law for public notice advertising at IC 5-3-1-9, failure to publish notices is a Class C infraction. I can see a prosecutor pursuing this only if a public official intentionally failed to publish a public notice. That’s why I recommend those who missed a deadline to publish as soon as possible rather than ignore it.
Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427.
