Now you can Google FCAT scores

Florida and Google Inc. announced a partnership Monday that both say will make it easier for citizens to get access to public records through search engines. Gov. Charlie Crist said the Web site improvements will not cost the state any money, while a Google official, John Burchett, said he hoped his firm would receive increased traffic as a result.

Many records that are public are beyond the reach of Google's "crawlers," the automated seekers of online data that slam into firewalls into Florida for all kinds of reasons. Examples of records that will now be searchable include public school FCAT scores, water and waste permits, employment data and consumers' commuting patterns.

The Google deal follows Crist's creation of an Office of Open Government; a study commission on how government can become more accessible to citizens; and an executive order requiring state agencies' basic documents to be in plain language.

Florida is the sixth state to enter into a venture with Google, joining Arizona, California, Michigan, Utah and Virginia. To see how to get access to that hard-to-find information, go to http://www.google.com/publicsector.

Comments

More PR nonsense that will not make a difference to me. If CC put as much energy into fixing the insurance and property tax messes as he does partnerships, councils and committees we'd all be in a much better place.

Does this agreement between Crist and Google mean I will no longer get hundreds of hits for Gay websites whenever I Google "Charlie Crist"?

Two Words often repeated recently:

Red Tape

BANG-O-RANG, 3:20!

Including Charlie's FCAT scores?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I tried to score by “Goggling” an FCAT once… she nearly scratched my eyes out!

… oh wait, I think I misread that; never mind!