GUNTER ISD receives C on 2024–25 FIRST (PERF) rating; district leaders point to cash-flow and revenue timing

Miss Greer, the district presenter on finance, told the board during a public hearing that GUNTER ISD received a grade of C on the 2024–25 FIRST (also called PERF) report for the 2023–24 school year. "So for the 23 24 school year, Gunner earned a c with a total of 76 points," she said, noting the district fell short on several indicators.

She identified indicator 7 — days of cash on hand and current investments sufficient to cover operating expenditures — as a key loss of points, saying the district received 0 points on that measure this cycle. Miss Greer also said indicator 9 (whether general-fund revenues equaled or exceeded expenditures, excluding facilities acquisition and construction) cost the district further points, though she said that those points are likely to return next year because the district budgeted without a deficit for 2024–25. She described an improvement on the debt-to-assessed-value ratio (indicator 12) and on the administrative cost ratio compared with the prior year.

The presentation framed some of the shortfall as timing and valuation-related. Miss Greer pointed to a change in TEA payment scheduling and to rising property values as factors that will likely restore points in the next reporting cycle. Board members asked no substantive questions during the hearing and the presentation concluded with staff inviting follow-up queries.

Why it matters: the FIRST rating is used by state education officials and by local stakeholders as a financial-accountability snapshot. A lower score can trigger additional scrutiny and affects public perception of fiscal stewardship; the district said actions already in place should improve the score on next year’s report.

Provenance: topic introduced in the public hearing (SEG 004–SEG 063).