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(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, open-enrollment charter school, or charter school
operated by a public IHE. 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, 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.
(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, 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)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)A financial accountability rating by a voluntary
association is a local option of the school district, 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)Each school district, 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, 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, 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 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 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, 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 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, 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, 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 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, 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, 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, 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,
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 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, open-enrollment charter school, or charter
school operated by a public IHE and to parents of school district,
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, each campus of an open-enrollment
charter school, or each campus of a charter school operated by a public
IHE in one posting prior to holding the public meeting, providing
the time and place of the hearing. The notice in the newspaper may
not be earlier than 30 days or later than 10 days before the date
of the hearing. 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, 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, 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, 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, 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
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 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 adoption and found it to be a valid exercise of the agency's
legal authority.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on August 12, 2020
TRD-202003351 Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez
Director, Rulemaking
Texas Education Agency
Effective date: September 1, 2020
Proposal publication date: April 24, 2020
For further information, please call: (512) 475-1497
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