The highest court in Pennsylvania, as Spotlight PA and the Friday edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported, has ruled Pennsylvania State University’s trustees should comply with right-to-know requests regarding meetings and conduct of its board of trustees.

“We are glad to see that Spotlight PA and the public’s right of access to these clearly public records has been vindicated,” Heather Murray of the First Amendment Clinic at Cornell Law School said.

We concur.

We must note that part of Penn State’s underlying argument against transparency — for decades — has been the school’s status as sort of a hybrid, an independent, private institution with a special relationship with the state, under which it received public funding without being wholly state-operated.

We have concerns about whether this sort of arrangement, which can be found in initiatives throughout our state, erodes public accountability and transparency. The state Supreme Court’s decision, in that regard, is reassuring.

If private enterprises and private institutions are going to receive tax dollars, our government should work tirelessly to ensure it isn’t a method or way for officials and leaders to skirt full disclosure of how tax dollars are spent. The state Supreme Court denying Penn State a chance to argue otherwise is a win for transparent stewardship of our tax dollars.