New York Coalition for Open Government › Learning Center
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Too few officials and residents know what these laws require. The result is misunderstanding, frustration and noncompliance. These courses close that gap. How it works
How to ask for a record so the request works, what the agency has to do and by when, what it can withhold or charge, and what to do when the answer is no.
Who has to meet in public, what notice the public is owed, when a board may go into executive session, and what to do when the rules are broken.
It saves your place, so you can stop after any lesson and come back later.
Three to nine minutes each, with captions. The video pauses now and then to ask a practice question. Nothing there is graded.
A few questions after each lesson. 80 percent passes, and you can retake it as often as you like.
25 questions drawn from the whole course. 80 percent passes.
The courses teach the same law to the people who apply it and the people who rely on it. No legal background needed.
The people who answer FOIL requests, post meeting notices and keep the minutes.
Village, town, city, county and school boards, planning and zoning boards, and the attorneys who advise them.
Anyone who wants a record or a seat at a meeting and wants to ask the right way.
Yes. There is no charge for the courses, and no ads.
One to one and a quarter hours of video per course, plus a short quiz after each lesson and the final exam. You can stop after any lesson and pick up where you left off.
New York does not certify training providers for FOIL or the Open Meetings Law, so no course can promise that. Planning and zoning board members can count it toward their required training hours if their town, city or village accepts it. Check with your municipality.
Yes. Pass the final exam and you can download a certificate of completion, with a code anyone can use to verify it.
The Coalition’s human experts wrote them. The presenter is AI-generated, which keeps the courses affordable and lets us update them quickly when the law changes.
No. The courses explain the law in plain English. For advice about a specific situation, talk to a lawyer. The Coalition’s Q&A answers many common questions.
The New York Coalition for Open Government is a nonpartisan nonprofit. We help New Yorkers use the Freedom of Information Law and the Open Meetings Law, and we push for stronger transparency rules in Albany and in local government.
