(l)[(j)] A financial accountability
rating remains in effect until replaced by a subsequent financial
accountability rating.
(m)[(k)] The TEA will issue
a preliminary financial accountability rating to a school district, [
or] an open-enrollment charter school, or a charter school
operated by a public IHE on or before August 8 of each year.
The TEA will base the financial accountability rating for a rating
year on the data from the fiscal year preceding the rating year.
(1)The TEA will not delay the issuance of the preliminary
or final rating if a school district, [or] an
open-enrollment charter school, or a charter school operated
by a public IHE fails to meet the statutory deadline under the
TEC, §44.008, for submitting the AFR. Instead, the school district
, [or] open-enrollment charter school, or charter
school operated by a public IHE will receive an F rating for
substandard achievement.
(2)If the TEA receives an appeal of a preliminary
rating, described by subsection (n) [(l)] of
this section, the TEA will issue a final rating to the school district
, [or] open-enrollment charter school, or charter
school operated by a public IHE no later than 60 days after the
deadline for submitting appeals [receiving the appeal].
(3)If the TEA does not receive an appeal of a preliminary
rating, described by subsection (n) [(l)] of
this section, the preliminary rating automatically becomes a final
rating 31 days after issuance of the preliminary rating.
(n)[(l)] A school district, [
or] an open-enrollment charter school, or a charter school
operated by a public IHE may appeal its preliminary financial
accountability rating through the following appeals process.
(1)The TEA division responsible for financial accountability
must receive a written appeal no later than 30 days after the TEA's
release of the preliminary rating. The appeal must include adequate
evidence and additional information that supports the position
of the school district, [district's or]
open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated by
a public IHE [school's position]. Appeals received
31 days or more after TEA issues a preliminary rating will not be
considered.
(2)A data error attributable to the TEA is a basis
for an appeal. If a preliminary rating contains a data error attributable
to the TEA, a school district or an open-enrollment charter school
may submit a written appeal requesting a review of the preliminary
rating.
(3)A school district, [or] an
open-enrollment charter school, or a charter school operated
by a public IHE may appeal any other adverse issue
it identifies in the preliminary rating. [However, the financial
accountability rating system is required to apply the rules uniformly.
Therefore, an error by a school district or an open-enrollment charter
school in recording data or submitting data through the TEA data collection
and reporting system is not a valid basis for appealing a preliminary
rating and unlikely to negate concerns raised by the indicator. The
appeals process is not a permissible method to correct data that were
inaccurately reported by the school district or open-enrollment charter
school after those data were certified as accurate. A request for
exception to the rules for a school district or an open-enrollment
charter school is disfavored and likely to be denied.]
(4)The TEA will only consider appeals that would result
in a change of the preliminary rating.
(5)The TEA division responsible for financial accountability
will select an external review panel to independently oversee the
appeals process.
(6)The TEA division responsible for financial accountability
will submit the information provided by the school district, [
or] open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated
by a public IHE 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.
(o)[(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.
(p)[(n)] A financial accountability
rating by a voluntary association is a local option of the school
district, [or] open-enrollment charter school,
or charter school operated by a public IHE, but it does not
substitute for a financial accountability rating by the TEA.
(q)[(o)] Each school district,
[and] open-enrollment charter school, and charter
school operated by a public IHE 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, and charter school operated by
a public IHE must prepare and distribute an annual financial
management report in accordance with this subsection.
(2)Each school district, [and]
open-enrollment charter school, and charter school operated by
a public IHE 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 for
a school district, an open-enrollment charter school, or a charter
school operated by a public IHE 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 of the
school district, open-enrollment charter school, or charter school
operated by a public IHE 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, or charter school operated by a public IHE 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)
of the school district, open-enrollment charter school, or charter
school operated by a public IHE 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, or charter school operated
by a public IHE;
(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, charter school operated by a public IHE, 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) of the school district, open-enrollment
charter school (or charter holder), or charter school operated by
a public IHE (or charter holder) from an outside entity that
received payments from the school district, [or]
open-enrollment charter school (or charter holder), or charter
school operated by a public IHE (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), or charter
school operated by a public IHE (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, or charter school operated by a public IHE determines
to be useful.
(4)The board of trustees of each school district, [
or] open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated
by a public IHE 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 of the school district, open-enrollment charter school,
or charter school operated by a public IHE. 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, or charter school operated by a public IHE and
to parents of school district, [or] open-enrollment
charter school, or charter school operated by a public IHE 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, or each campus of
a charter school operated by a public IHE in one posting [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 earlier than 30 days or later than 10
days before the date of the hearing [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
or campus of a charter school operated by a public IHE, 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 or the campus of a charter school operated by a public
IHE is located; and
(B)through electronic mail to the mass communication
media serving the school district, [or] open-enrollment
charter school, or charter school operated by a public IHE, including,
but not limited to, radio and television.
(5)At the hearing, the school district, [
or] open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated
by a public IHE must provide the annual financial management
report to the attending parents and taxpayers.
(6)The school district, [or]
open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated by
a public IHE 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, or charter school operated by
a public IHE 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 of
the school district, open-enrollment charter school, or charter school
operated by a public IHE. The commissioner may require certain
information in the corrective action plan to address the factor(s)
that may have contributed to the [a school district's
or an open-enrollment charter school's] F rating for a
school district, open-enrollment charter school, or charter school
operated by a public IHE.
The agency certifies that legal counsel has
reviewed the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's
legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on April 2, 2018
TRD-201801397 Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez
Director, Rulemaking
Texas Education Agency
Earliest possible date of adoption: May 13, 2018
For further information, please call: (512) 475-1497
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