Duncanville ISD holds public hearing on Financial Integrity Rating; district retains A rating with 90 points

Duncanville Independent School District held its required public hearing on the district’s Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) report and said the district retained an A rating for the 2023–24 fiscal year with a score of 90 points.

Darla Moss, who presented the FIRST report, explained the rating uses 21 indicators across categories that include critical indicators of fiscal distress, solvency measures and financial competence. Moss said year‑over‑year declines on indicators 11 and 12 reflect increased long‑term liabilities tied to debt issued for the 2024 bond. “This year’s rating is an A with a score of 90 points,” she said.

Moss described indicator 11 as the district’s ratio of long‑term liabilities to assets and said the district’s debt‑to‑asset ratio rose to 0.73 from 0.63 after the 2024 bond. Indicator 12 compares future debt requirements with the district’s assessed property value and also shifted as the district added debt in 2024. Moss said the rating shown is based on data from the fiscal year that ended in June 2024 and that a copy of the full report is available on the district’s financial transparency webpage.

Moss noted other required disclosures on the report, including the superintendent’s current contract and several summary schedules. There were no public questions during the hearing.

The board did not take a vote on the report itself; the hearing provided the statutorily required opportunity for public input and for the board to receive the financial information.