How transparent is your school district?
Tennessee Firefly grades every public school district in Tennessee on three things: Open Meetings Act compliance, document availability, and responsiveness to public records requests. The methodology is published in full so you can check our work, and so districts know exactly what to fix.
The transparency audit project is in its first cycle. As each district’s audit completes, results land here with an A–F grade and a line-by-line breakdown.
Districts audited so far: 0 of 153. See methodology for what we measure.
Methodology
Each district is graded on 13 measurable criteria across three categories. Total score is out of 100 points. We require at least 8 of 13 items measured before issuing a grade, districts with insufficient data are marked “Incomplete.”
Meetings (50 pts)
- Agenda lead time (12 pts), 48hr+ ahead of meeting
- Minutes posted (10 pts), within 30 days
- Recordings archived (8 pts), every meeting
- Live stream provided (6 pts), yes / no
- Agenda items linked to docs (8 pts)
- Public comment opportunity (6 pts)
Documents (30 pts)
- Annual budget posted online (8 pts)
- External audit reports posted (6 pts)
- Major contracts disclosed (8 pts)
- Salary data posted (8 pts)
Communications (20 pts)
- Public records response time (12 pts), ≤ 7 business days
- Designated comms contact (8 pts), named + responsive
Grade mapping
Audits are conducted annually each spring covering the prior 12 months. Source data: TNFirefly review of district websites + records request response times we’ve documented + attendance at board meetings. Disagree with a finding? Email tips@tnfirefly.comwith evidence and we’ll re-audit.