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TITLE 19EDUCATION
PART 2TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY
CHAPTER 109BUDGETING, ACCOUNTING, AND AUDITING
SUBCHAPTER AACOMMISSIONER'S RULES CONCERNING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
RULE §109.1001Financial Accountability Ratings
Historical Texas Register

  (6) The TEA division responsible for financial accountability will submit the information provided by the school district or open-enrollment charter school to the external review panel members for review.

  (7) Each external review panel member will examine the appeal and supporting documentation and will submit his or her recommendation to the TEA division responsible for financial accountability.

  (8) The TEA division responsible for financial accountability will compile the recommendations and forward them to the commissioner.

  (9) The commissioner will make a final ratings decision.

(m) A final rating issued by the TEA under this section may not be appealed under the TEC, §7.057, or any other law or rule.

(n) A financial accountability rating by a voluntary association is a local option of the school district or open-enrollment charter school, but it does not substitute for a financial accountability rating by the TEA.

(o) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school is required to report information and financial accountability ratings to parents, taxpayers, and other stakeholders by implementing the following reporting procedures.

  (1) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school must prepare and distribute an annual financial management report in accordance with this subsection.

  (2) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school must provide the public with an opportunity to comment on the report at a public hearing.

  (3) The school district's or open-enrollment charter school's annual financial management report must include:

    (A) a description of its financial management performance based on a comparison, provided by the TEA, of its performance on the indicators established by the commissioner and reflected in this section. The report will contain information that discloses:

      (i) state-established standards; and

      (ii) the school district's or open-enrollment charter school's financial management performance under each indicator for the current and previous year's financial accountability ratings;

    (B) any descriptive information required by the commissioner, including:

      (i) a copy of the superintendent's current employment contract or other written documentation of employment if no contract exists. This must disclose all compensation and benefits paid to the superintendent. The school district or open-enrollment charter school may publish the superintendent's employment contract on its website instead of publishing it in the annual financial management report;

      (ii) a summary schedule for the fiscal year (12-month period) of expenditures paid on behalf of the superintendent and each board member and total reimbursements received by the superintendent and each board member. This includes transactions on the school district's or open-enrollment charter school's credit card(s), debit card(s), stored-value card(s), and any other similar instrument(s) to cover expenses incurred by the superintendent and each board member. The summary schedule must separately report reimbursements for meals, lodging, transportation, motor fuel, and other items. The summary schedule of total reimbursements should not include reimbursements for supplies and materials that were purchased for the operation of the school district or open-enrollment charter school;

      (iii) a summary schedule for the fiscal year of the dollar amount of compensation and fees received by the superintendent from an outside school district or open-enrollment charter school or any other outside entity in exchange for professional consulting or other personal services. The schedule must separately report the amount received from each entity;

      (iv) a summary schedule for the fiscal year of the total dollar amount of gifts that had a total economic value of $250 or more received by the executive officers and board members. This reporting requirement applies only to gifts received by the school district's or open-enrollment charter school's (or charter holder's) executive officers and board members (and their immediate family as described by Government Code, Chapter 573, Subchapter B, Relationships by Consanguinity or by Affinity) from an outside entity that received payments from the school district or open-enrollment charter school (or charter holder) in the prior fiscal year and to gifts from competing vendors that were not awarded contracts in the prior fiscal year. This reporting requirement does not apply to reimbursement by an outside entity for travel-related expenses when the purpose of the travel was to investigate matters directly related to an executive officer's or board member's duties or to investigate matters related to attendance at education-related conferences and seminars with the primary purpose of providing continuing education (this exclusion does not apply to trips for entertainment purposes or pleasure trips). This reporting requirement excludes an individual gift or a series of gifts from a single outside entity that had a total economic value of less than $250 per executive officer or board member; and

      (v) a summary schedule for the fiscal year of the dollar amount received by board members for the total amount of business transactions with the school district or open-enrollment charter school (or charter holder). This reporting requirement is not to duplicate the items disclosed in the summary schedule of reimbursements received by board members; and

    (C) any other information the board of trustees of the school district or open-enrollment charter school determines to be useful.

  (4) The board of trustees of each school district or open-enrollment charter school must hold a public hearing on the annual financial management report within two months after receiving a final financial accountability rating. The public hearing must be held at a location in the district's or open-enrollment charter school's facilities. The board must give notice of the hearing to owners of real estate property in the geographic boundaries of the school district or open-enrollment charter school and to parents of school district or open-enrollment charter school students. In addition to other notice required by law, the board must provide notice of the hearing:

    (A) to a newspaper of general circulation in the geographic boundaries of the school district or each campus of an open-enrollment charter school once a week for two weeks prior to holding the public meeting, providing the time and place of the hearing. The first notice in the newspaper may not be more than 30 days prior to the public meeting or less than 14 days prior to the public meeting. If no newspaper is published in the county in which the district's central administration office is located or within the geographic boundaries of an open-enrollment charter school's campus, then the board must publish the notice in the county nearest to the county seat of the county in which the district's central administration office is located or in which the campus of the open-enrollment charter school is located; and

    (B) through electronic mail to the mass communication media serving the school district or open-enrollment charter school, including, but not limited to, radio and television.

  (5) At the hearing, the school district or open-enrollment charter school must provide the annual financial management report to the attending parents and taxpayers.

  (6) The school district or open-enrollment charter school must retain the annual financial management report for at least three years after the public hearing and make it available to parents and taxpayers upon request.

  (7) Each school district or open-enrollment charter school that received an F rating must file a corrective action plan with the TEA, prepared in accordance with instructions from the commissioner, within one month after the school district's or open-enrollment charter school's public hearing. The commissioner may require certain information in the corrective action plan to address the factor(s) that may have contributed to a school district's or an open-enrollment charter school's F rating.


Source Note: The provisions of this §109.1001 adopted to be effective August 6, 2015, 40 TexReg 4879

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