The Legislature should require school districts and the Texas Education Agency to collect and disseminate more accurate and useful financial and statistical information to foster greater public confidence in Texas schools.
Taxpayers also deserve to know more about how school districts are spending their money.
The state's clear trend toward more local control and more direct accountability carries with it a need for accurate records by which taxpayers and voters can judge their local school districts. Without a financial accountability system as understandable and well-publicized as the student performance system, Texas risks yet another wave of public discontent over education. Financial accountability School districts send enormous quantities of student, staff, and financial data to TEA, but these data are not subjected to a truly effective review to ensure financial accountability. TEA's efforts to ensure data integrity and financial accountability consist of a patchwork of data and finance monitoring systems and indicators. TEA has established data submission standards, for instance, but these have not prevented many districts from submitting inaccurate information.