Texas Register

TITLE 19 EDUCATION
PART 2TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY
CHAPTER 109BUDGETING, ACCOUNTING, AND AUDITING
SUBCHAPTER AACOMMISSIONER'S RULES CONCERNING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
RULE §109.1001Financial Accountability Ratings
ISSUE 12/31/2021
ACTION Final/Adopted
Preamble Texas Admin Code Rule

  (1)The TEA will not delay the issuance of the preliminary or final rating if a school district, 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, 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) of this section, the TEA will issue a final rating to the school district, open-enrollment charter school, or charter school operated by a public IHE no later than 60 days after the deadline for submitting appeals.

  (3)If the TEA does not receive an appeal of a preliminary rating, described by subsection (n) of this section, the preliminary rating automatically becomes a final rating 31 days after issuance of the preliminary rating.

(n)A school district, 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, 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 December 16, 2021

TRD-202105100

Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez

Director, Rulemaking

Texas Education Agency

Effective date: January 5, 2022

Proposal publication date: September 3, 2021

For further information, please call: (512) 475-1497



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