Finance+5342+Week+4+Part+1

Group 2 - give me your thoughts. Using information off TEA website to develop a page length. May be totally off. Open to any ideas or suggestions to support our top three ideas, after seeing we only got half credit on a couple of items last week beginning to think I may be misunderstanding the assignments.....

5342 Finance Week 4, Part 1 The Texas Education Agency accountability system utilized to monitor school districts and open enrollment charter schools business and financial operations is FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas). Our group determined the following to be the three most important components of FIRST.
 * 1) FIRST ensures schools and school districts manage their financial resources in order to provide maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes. This is done in part by using the FIRST worksheet which is a 22 point indicator system. The first category is “Critical Indicators”. This portion asks 6 specific questions which receive a yes or no answer. The remaining 16 indicators are ranked by using determination points on a scale of 0-5. The areas include: Fiscal Efficiencies & Academic Performance (6 indicators); Budgeting (3 indicators); Personnel (3 indicators); and Cash Management (4 indicators). Another part is the FIRST Management Report. It looks at information such as: superintendent contract; re-imbursement received by superintendent and board members; Business Transactions between the district and board; Outside compensation received; and Gifts received.
 * 2) FIRST discloses the quality of local management and the decision making process that impact the allocation of financial resources. Part of this component includes TEA making a determination of rating from 5 levels, from top to bottom they include: Super Achievement, Above Standard Achievement, Standard Achievement, Substandard Achievement and Suspended-Data Quality.
 * 3) FIRST holds school districts accountable for the quality of their financial management practices. This goes along with number 2 and 3. School districts are held accountable by the rating system they receive. The rating (and any findings or violation) become public record. They are made public and shared with the community by such means as public hearings, board agenda items, district literature/newsletters and local newspapers. It is especially important when dealing with taxpayer’s money that the school district and board are always accountable and transparent to the public. The FIRST system helps maintain a peace of mind for the taxpayers that someone is monitoring the financial side of the school system. This is very important in today’s tough economic times and mistrust.