Board hears School FIRST report; trustees and public press for stronger managerial accounting and audits

The board held a public hearing on the Texas School FIRST Financial Integrity Rating System, which uses district financial data to evaluate solvency, timeliness and compliance. Presenters said Goose Creek CISD scored 96 and earned the "Superior Achievement" rating for the 23rd consecutive year.

During board questioning, trustees asked which indicator was not scored; the presentation identified the unscored item as the district's net position. The presenters said the two areas where the district did not receive maximum points were the district's long-term liabilities ratio and the district administrative cost-to-student ratio.

A public commenter with private-sector audit experience urged the district to improve managerial accounting and create an independent internal audit function that reports to the board rather than to management. The CFO and other administrators responded that the district performs internal audits and compliance checks (cash handling, purchasing and campus compliance) and that HR and the CFO have used attrition strategies to reduce administrative staff; they also described campus-level audit and procurement checks and corrections for misclassifications.

Trustees pressed for more detail on how administrative overhead and encumbrances affect the budget and asked administration to provide campus-by-campus breakdowns of uncertified teachers and contingency use. The business office later presented interim financial reporting showing the general fund within fund-balance policy and described a superintendent contingency line that fell from about $1.2 million to $500,000 in recent years.

The public hearing closed with trustees indicating a desire for more granular managerial data (program-level costs, encumbrance timing, and internal audit options) ahead of budget decisions.