The Pasadena Independent School District has received a "Superior Achievement" rating under Texas' Schools FIRST financial accountability rating system for the fourth consecutive year by earning a perfect score by passing all 21 state indicators.

The Superior Achievement rating is the state's highest, demonstrating the quality of the school district's financial management and reporting system.

The Schools FIRST (Financial Accountability Rating System of Texas), was developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to Senate Bill 875 passed 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 due to the complexity of the state's school finance system.

The financial rating system assigns one of four ratings to Texas school districts. In addition to the superior rating, a district could be rated as "Above-Standard Achievement," "Standard Achievement" and Substandard Achievement." Districts with serious data quality issues could receive an additional rating of "Suspended-Data Quality." Districts that perform poorly on the accountability assessment must file corrective action plans with TEA.

Under the system, a district's rating is based upon 21 different indicators based on the district's fund balance, audit, timeliness of reports, delinquent tax collections, administrative costs, PEIMS financial information, debt service expenditures and budget. Pasadena ISD earned a perfect score by passing all 21 indicators.