Dallas ISD earns state’s top nod for minding money

The Dallas Independent School District has received a rating of “Superior Achievement” under Texas’ Schools FIRST financial accountability rating system. The Superior Achievement rating is the state’s highest, demonstrating the quality of Dallas ISD’s financial management and reporting system. This is the third consecutive year Dallas ISD has earned the distinction.

This is the 12th year of Schools FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas), a financial accountability system for Texas school districts developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th Texas Legislature in 1999. The primary goal of Schools FIRST is to achieve quality performance in the management of school districts’ financial resources, a goal made more significant because of the complexity of accounting associated with Texas’ public school finance system.

The Schools FIRST accountability rating system assigns one of four financial accountability ratings to Texas school districts, with the highest being “Superior Achievement,” followed by “Above-Standard Achievement,” “Standard Achievement” and “Substandard Achievement.” Districts with serious data quality problems may receive the additional rating of “Suspended – Data Quality.” Districts that receive the “Substandard Achievement” or “Suspended – Data Quality” ratings under Schools FIRST must file a corrective action plan with the Texas Education Agency.