TEA has proposed a new rule on the calculation of ratings under the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST). The rule, as proposed, phases in changes to the program over the next couple of years, with the more substantive changes coming to ratings issued for the 2020-2021 school year, and based on data for fiscal year 2020. One change that will take place for the 2017-2018 through 2019-2020 ratings (based on data from fiscal years 2017 through 2019) is that the threshold for districts to be considered fast-growing under the calculation for indicators 5 and 8 was lowered from 10% growth in membership over 5 years to 7% growth in membership.
Some of the more substantive changes that will take place beginning with data for fiscal year 2020 include a comparison between actual and budgeted revenues, a comparison of average daily attendance (ADA) estimated and turned in to TEA through the pupil projections system each biennium to actual ADA, and an analysis of the amount Capital Appreciation Bonds (CABs) issued after 9/1/2015 as a percentage of the district's total outstanding bonded indebtedness.
You can read the proposed rules
here ("
Proposed Amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 109, Budgeting, Accounting, and Auditing, Subchapter AA, Commissioner's Rules Concerning Financial Accountability, §109.1001, Financial Accountability Ratings").
Public comments on this rule are due by May 14. We will post a template to enable you to estimate ratings under the proposed rule in the coming days. That template will be posted to the TASBO website, and we will let you know when it is available.