The coming week is Pennsylvania Sunshine Week.

While we are sure — to which we alluded in Thursday’s editorial — that the families throughout our region our excited about the warmth and sunshine of the season, “sunshine week” refers to something else.

The old adage that sunlight is the best disinfectant and the principles that for our governments — local, county, state and federal — to be truly accountable to voters, government must operate with the utmost transparency.

Pennsylvania’s “sunshine laws” govern how public bodies can conduct business — how information about their decisions and when they make them must be available to taxpayers and constituents.

It is not a subject that we believe should be confined to a single week — indeed, throughout the past year, we’ve opined on the Shapiro administration’s aversion to transparency. We’ve reported more recently on the challenges and frustrations taxpayers and residents of Muncy Township are encountering with a new board of supervisors who, unfortunately, are falling short of transparency.

We expect to continue reporting and editorializing on the vital necessity of government transparency. Because as much as we enjoy uplifting stories about the successes of our young people, the aspirations of business owners in our communities and the civic-mindedness of private organizations and enterprises in meeting the challenges our communities face, we recognize that one of the most important services we provide is coverage of what our — and your — elected officials are deciding.

Our system of government — our principles — are that the obligation to govern stems from the rights of voters to decide who governs them. And as such, the importance of voters staying well-informed about the conduct of supervisors and borough and city councils and school boards and lawmakers is a crucial part in preserving the principles of liberty and democracy.