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Keller ISD receives 'meets standard' FIRST rating; board probes TEA calculations and fund‑balance metrics
Summary
At a public FIRST hearing trustees learned Keller ISD again 'meets standard' (70/100) but lost points on indicators tied to cash‑on‑hand and liabilities; staff explained TEA's treatment of CDs and a health‑care deficit and said the district is building fund balance.
District finance staff presented the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) report for fiscal year 2023–24 and explained why Keller ISD scored 70 out of 100 ("meets standard").
"Keller, for the third year in a row, will be a meets standard, 70 for our first rating," Doctor Allison said when opening the public hearing. Allison said four indicators — largely focused on fund balance, cash on hand and the ratio of long‑term liabilities to assets — cost the district points in the TEA assessment. He attributed part of the difference to Tennessee Education Agency (TEA) measurement rules that do not treat some CDs as liquid cash and a roughly $20 million health‑care deficit that is counted against cash on hand in TEA's calculation.
Trustees pressed for detail on the TEA calculations and asked whether moving investments from CDs into short‑term instruments would improve the score. Allison described TEA's inputs: long‑term liabilities (~$809,988,017 for the district), total assets (about $1,091,395,957 reported) and student population snapshots; he said TEA also factors 3‑ to 5‑year student growth or decline into some indicators. "TEA does not consider CDs to be cash on hand," Allison said, which affects the district's reported ratios.
Board members asked staff to provide the exact calculation inputs and noted the district has stabilized fund balance through budget actions. Allison told trustees the district had deliberately used fund balance earlier than peers and that the district is putting money aside (about $4 million this year) toward the TEA benchmark, though he said the district remains roughly $33 million below TEA's recommended fund‑balance percentage for its size.
No votes were taken during the hearing; Allison said required disclosures (superintendent contract, reimbursements and outside compensation) showed nothing to report and would be posted with the district's FIRST materials online.
