St. Lucie Public Schools web site earns national award for transparency

FORT PIERCE — St. Lucie Public Schools is one of only 13 public school districts in Florida to be recognized as providing one of the most transparent websites in the nation by the editors of Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency, with their third annual Sunny Awards.

The award, which honors the most transparent government websites in the nation, went to 214 government entities nationwide, with Florida receiving the most Sunny Awards.

Sunshine Review promotes transparency and affirmative disclosure at the state and local levels using a 10-point transparency checklist to analyze 50 state websites and more than 6,000 local government web sites.

“The Sunny Awards recognizes governments that are doing an exemplary job at proactively disclosing information to taxpayers,” said Michael Barnhart, president of Sunshine Review. “There are so many organizations and associations that highlight what is wrong with government. We at Sunshine Review are proud to acknowledge those who are doing it right and setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet.”

Other Florida public school districts recognized include Charlotte, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Marion, Orange, Palm Beach, Polk, Seminole and St. Johns counties.