The Pasadena Independent
School District has received a "Superior
Achievement" rating under Texas' Schools FIRST
financial accountability rating system for the
seventh consecutive year by earning a perfect
score by passing all 24 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 24 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 24 indicators.