The state's report card from the Pew Center's Government Performance Project would make any student proud, and cause parents to think - passingly, we hope - about buying those annoying bumper stickers that brag, "My kid's an honor student." The state's report card boasts an overall A-minus average. Not quite a 4.0, but bear in mind that no state got straight A's. Utah was one of only three states, with Washington and Virginia, to get an A-minus overall.

Indeed, they ruined the curve for the 47 other kids in the class.

Utah got the high marks for excellence in managing its budgets, staffs, infrastructure and information. It got the same A-minus overall grade in a similar study in 2005. The latest report burnished the state's reputation as one of the best-managed in the nation.

The folks at the Pew Center on the States and Governing magazine, which jointly sponsor the report cards, are big on information technology. They give high grades to states that collect good financial and performance data and integrate it so that legislators and government managers can make decisions based on hard numbers.

Utah is good at that. If you don't believe us, just go surfing on the Web sites for the Utah Legislature, the State Tax Commission or the Division of Wildlife Resources, to name just three government agencies, and swim in the flood of facts and figures available there.

Now imagine how that tide of information helps to inform decision-making at the Legislature or within the state bureaucracy.

Utah's governors and legislators have been particularly adept at managing the state's finances to mitigate the effect of the ups and downs of the business cycle on state revenues and spending. And the Legislative Auditor General is an effective watchdog.

It's our job as the state's largest newspaper to point out flaws, as we perceive them, in state government policy and performance and give voice to government's critics. But we are happy to acknowledge the state's excellent financial and data management.

State officials deserve a round of applause for their fine performance.