Two Minnesota governmental bodies — Carver County and the Minneapolis Public Schools — have been honored by the Sunshine Review for providing transparency to their proceedings.
They got the state's only "Sunny" awards, which went to 214 governmental entities around the country.
The nonprofit group evaluated 6,000 state and local governmental websites to determine which ones are the best at promoting transparency in their actions. They considered availability of information on budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes.
Minnesota legislators, meanwhile, are considering a bill to provide more transparency in contract buyouts, following the public outrage last month after the Burnsville school officials refused to publicly outline the reasons they paid $255,000 to buy out a human resources director.
Burnsville Schools did not get a Sunny award.