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The one school district that refused to turn over complete records to the Arizona Daily Star as part of a 10-month investigation into student achievement is facing increased scrutiny for its denial, including possible intervention by the state.

Officials with the Arizona Department of Education on Wednesday said they'll contact Amphitheater Public Schools and ask officials why they refused to provide the records.

District officials did not return repeated calls, but have said the records could violate student privacy rights and they aren't legally compelled to provide them, even though one public-records expert and an increasing number of citizens are questioning the stance.

The director of constituent services for the Department of Education, Adria Lugo, said the agency received a request Tuesday afternoon from an Oro Valley resident who was concerned by Amphi's refusal.

"I think it's horrendous," said Ann Justus, 64, who made the request. "I believe that it's the only way for the public to know exactly what's going on in the schools, and then take action to make sure that it's corrected." Justus' four children attended Amphi schools, and she has one grandchild in the district now.

Amphi's superintendent will be asked about the records request and the district's response, Lugo said.

If district officials don't respond to the inquiry, or if their response isn't satisfactory, Lugo said the issue may be referred to the state Attorney General's Office.

Appeals also can go to the state's ombudsman, who handles inquiries and complaints from the public, the press and government officials themselves looking at how to respond to records requests.

Amphi's refusal to release its student records also arose during a Wednesday Web chat the Star hosted with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who said his office would look into the issue.

Contacted afterward, Horne said he has no power to make Amphitheater release the records, but noted that school districts typically respond to inquiries from the state. He said the Department of Education has an excellent relationship with Amphi officials.

"We'll inquire," Horne said. "If there's a problem, maybe we can help."

Star reporters began filing a series of public-records requests with Tucson-area school districts last summer, hoping to gauge the quality of education in the classroom.

Eight out of nine districts asked for data complied with the Star's requests, but Amphitheater continually refused.

In declining the request, Amphi spokesman Todd Jaeger said the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits the release of personally identifiable information.

Other districts gave the newspaper data with anonymous student IDs attached to the records, to conceal identities. The identifiers were essential to track accurate progress over the span of the analysis. Making records anonymous is common in database programs.

The Star consulted with an attorney, who wrote a letter to Amphi and the Sunnyside Unified School District last October asking for records. Sunnyside complied about a week later, but Amphi did not respond to the letter and did not produce the data the Star requested — even despite further requests during the next several months.

The Star investigation found that nearly one-third of the middle- and high-school students in the eight Tucson-area school districts failed a core class last year but still were promoted to the next grade level — evidence of widespread social promotion, experts say.

Furthermore, more than a quarter of middle and high schools in the Tucson-area's largest districts awarded passing grades students may not have earned, the investigation found. The schools showed discrepancies of more than 25 percent between student failure rates on AIMS, the state's assessment test, and in corresponding English and math classes — what experts called strong evidence of grade inflation.

Two classroom volunteers said social promotion and its causes are apparent at Rio Vista Elementary School, in Amphi.

"This year, it seems two-thirds of the class started below grade level," said Bob Cherba, who volunteers with his wife, Joyce, in a fourth-grade class.

"We have seen kids reading at first-grade levels coming into fourth grade and students struggling with second-grade math standards," he said.

Following the Star's series, David Cuillier, a University of Arizona journalism professor, contacted Jaeger regarding Amphi's decision to withhold requested student records.

Echoing his responses to the Star, Jaeger wrote Cuillier that: "The Star requested that we create new personal identifiers for our students. We declined to do that."

Cuillier challenged Jaeger's reading of records law and explained how the Star's request could be handled without revealing student identities.

A former reporter, Cuillier teaches classes in access to public records and computer-assisted analysis and is the national chairman of the Freedom of Information committee of the Society of Professional Journalists and a member of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona.

His children, Paul, 11, and Lauren, 9, both attend Mesa Verde Elementary School, in Amphi. He questioned why Amphi's superintendent and Governing Board would continue to defer to their attorney.

"They are in charge. The attorney is not in charge," Cuillier said. "This is unbecoming of a public official. They need to be forthcoming and open about the school district, our school district."

Amphi board member Kent Barrabee deferred questions to district administrators concerning Amphi's decision to withhold records, but he praised the Star's investigation.

"I certainly don't speak for the board, and I certainly don't speak for the district, but I do believe that the information you published was a service to the community," he said.

He added: "I personally believe that awareness of the problem of social promotion could be an important springboard to reconsidering lots of aspects of the educational system.

"Starting — from my point of view — with preschool and early-childhood education."

Another board member, Linda Loomis, also deferred questions to Jaeger, who did not return multiple phone calls and e-mails Wednesday. Amphi Superintendent Vicki Balentine also did not return calls.