The Lawrence school district has decided to provide Excel computer files requested by the Kansas Policy Institute.

KPI, which criticizes school funding, had filed a complaint with the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, alleging that the school district failed to comply with KPI’s Kansas Open Records Act request because the school district provided the group the requested files in a the PDF format, not the Excel format.

KPI said the PDF format was more cumbersome. The school district said there was no state requirement on what electronic format to provide public records.

But on Monday, the school district said it would provide KPI with Excel files. Julie Boyle, spokeswoman for the district, said, “While Kansas statutes do not stipulate a specific electronic file format in which public records must be provided, the district does not wish to waste taxpayer funds or the district attorney’s time on a complaint we believe has no merit.”

KPI President Dave Trabert said: “We are happy that USD 497 decided to fully comply with KORA and release the same data they released last year. It should not take a formal complaint with the district attorney for a government agency to release data on how public dollars are being spent.”