April 11th, 2011
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Author: The Sunshine Review organization has turned its blinding rays on the websites of Wisconsin school districts.
The national non-profit that conducts studies related to government transparency released the results last week. It judged the websites of 439 school districts against an 11-point metric, handing out a lot of C’s, D’s and F’s. Overall, Wisconsin got a D from the Sunshine Review, indicating widespread shadowiness among this state’s school system websites.
The study considered whether the websites post information on taxes levied by the district, its budget, upcoming meetings, the identities of elected and administrative officials, contracts held by the district, audits performed, background check policies for staff members, standardized testing results and public record laws that apply to the district.
Districts were least likely to post information on audits, contracts, background checks or taxes. They were most likely to identify administrative officials and upcoming meetings.
The website for Milwaukee Public Schools, like those for many other districts, got a “D” from the Sunshine Review. It credits MPS for transparency in the areas of budgeting, contracting and school performance but faults it for not clearly disclosing the taxes levied by the district, audits performed or providing “thorough information about background checks.”
It also didn’t help that when the Review was examining the MPS website, the meetings page was down. It’s back up now.
Only two Wisconsin districts got A’s (A-minuses, actually) – Holmen School District in Western Wisconsin and Sauk Prairie School District northwest of Madison.
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