Llano ISD earns top financial integrity rating
“We’ve traditionally scored quite well on this,” said Superintendent Dennis Hill. “Ironically, one of the areas we took a hit on was because the TEA thinks we have too much money in the bank.” LISD earned 76 of a possible 85 points under the FIRST scale. Districts earning 75 or above get a “superior achievement” rating. Districts can earn “superior,” “above standard,” “standard” and “substandard” achievement.
“You really don’t face any sanctions until you get a substandard achievement,” business manager Jo Ann Williams said. “But we’re still proud of this rating. It says we’re doing a good job managing the district’s finances.”
In 1999, the Legislature directed the TEA to come up with a school financial accountability system to go along with the academic accountability system. FIRST uses 24 indicators to gauge a district’s financial health and accountability.
“It was a bit more difficult this year because the state has increased the percentage of funds that must be spent on instruction,” Williams said. “This is the first year we’ve had the 65-percent rule.”
This rule requires districts to spend at least 65 percent of their maintenance and operations budget on items directly responsible for classroom instruction.
Williams said there was no phase-in for this requirement. Based on the 2006-2007 financial data, LISD spent 65.4 percent of its budget on items directly related to classroom instruction. But Williams said this doesn’t include things such as transportation and energy costs.
She is concerned that next year it might be more difficult for the district to hit the 65-percent rule because of the increases in energy costs.
TEA also cited LISD for the amount of money the district has in its fund balance.
Hill said the TEA has a formula that it uses to determine a district’s optimum savings. But LISD’s fund balance exceeded that amount.
According to LISD’s FIRST report, the district’s fund balance is $5.1 million compared to the TEA’s recommended level of $3 million.
“But I don’t know too many superintendents who would be upset by having too much money in the fund balance,” he said.
The Marble Falls Independent School District also was cited by TEA for having a large fund balance.
The Llano district’s entire FIRST report can be found on its Web site at www.llano.k12.tx.us.
daniel@thepicayune.com