Government reform was the mantra for 2011 — a strong sign that the economic doldrums South Florida has experienced since the Great Recession sparked welcome civic activism to fight fraud and mismanagement and force wise government spending.

For Broward County, it meant public pressure for a clear, countywide ethics policy and calls for an independent ethics office after a series of scandals involving indicted or convicted public officials at county government, the School Board and some municipalities.

Also for the better: a new superintendent for Broward public schools, Robert Runcie, replaced a weak-kneed Jim Notter, whose tenure was marked by poor decisions that allowed School Board members to steer contracts to their developer pals. The result saddled taxpayers with a $2 billion debt and worse crowding.

The district overbuilt at developers’ whims in some areas while neglecting under-enrolled, aging urban schools in the east side of the county and suburban schools in the west that remain crowded. Mr. Runcie and a new school board have tough work ahead to ensure such shenanigans don’t happen again.

So does the Broward teachers union. Its former embattled president, Pat Santeramo, resigned in early December, just one day before the union’s executive board was to vote on his removal. He remains under investigation for alleged campaign contributions fraud, accused of mismanaging $3.8 million of union reserves.

The district’s hardworking teachers deserve better.

For Miami-Dade County reform has meant a successful recall election this summer by taxpayers upset with then-Mayor Carlos Alvarez and various commissioners. The Marlins stadium deal of years earlier had left many residents sour; then came a property tax rate increase proposed by Mr. Alvarez in a recession in the midst of plunging property values and high unemployment.

Voters revolted. Mr. Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas were booted out.

From the beginning of the recall effort, the Herald Editorial Board warned that changing a mayor or a commissioner would not lead to true reforms unless voters changed the county’s governance. The architect of the recall, businessman Norman Braman, agreed and has kept his word in pressing county officials to pursue county charter changes, including term limits coupled with pay raises for commissioners and removing obstacles to petition drives. The charter questions will be on the January ballot.

Meanwhile, Mayor Carlos Gimenez has done a solid job of balancing the county budget, protecting as much as possible programs for children and the needy while negotiating with labor unions whose pension and benefits have become unsustainable. Commissioners have stepped up and focused on having the county live within its means.

Not all changes in the name of “reform” have been wise, though.

Gov. Rick Scott, in his first year in office, backed the Republican-led Legislature’s voting “rights” legislation as a “reform” to fight an inexistent fraud. The law has the effect of suppressing voter registration and turnout among college students and African Americans — groups that strongly supported Barack Obama for president in 2008.

The new voter law and redistricting proposals that will be decided by the Legislature next year will likely end up in court. Voters, who approved Amendments 5 and 6 to get compact districts of common interests, are right to ask if those in office are once again crafting an incumbent protection law instead of doing the will of the people.

In the city of Miami, reform came with the City Commission’s ouster of then-Chief Miguel Exposito and a return to community policing in black neighborhoods that had experienced a plethora of police shootings of black suspects, at least one of them unarmed. Now the Justice Department is investigating.

Still left to fix: the new baseball stadium parking mess. Legal questions about the parking lease to the Marlins have left the city potentially on the hook for a $1.5 million county tax bill. A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the financials of the deal and bondholders’ exposure continues.

As South Florida continues its slow economic recovery, an era of smart government reform is underway. That bodes well for voters in 2012.