TOWN STAFF REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
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Hold a public hearing, receive and discuss the 2024 Charter FIRST rating for Westlake Academy based on School Year 2022-2023 data, and the Annual Financial Management Report (Marlene Rutledge, Academic Finance Manager)
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STAFF: Marlene Rutledge, Academic Finance Manager
BACKGROUND:
FIRST is the acronym for the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, as developed for Texas school districts by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th Legislature in 1999. The primary goal of the rating system is to achieve quality performance in the management of school district financial resources. In 2009, TEA included open-enrollment charter schools in this rating system, called Charter FIRST.
DISCUSSION:
After TEA receives the Academy's financial information, a FIRST rating worksheet is completed. The current year rating worksheet contains 21 questions, called indicators. Each indicator is designed to assess the management of financial resources. Ratings are based on staff/student and financial data for the corresponding fiscal year. Charter schools provide information to TEA through various financial and audit reports, as well as data reported through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).
If the charter school answers "No", or fails any of the critical indicators 1 through 5, the rating is automatically a "Substandard Achievement" regardless of points earned from other indicators. If the charter school fails any ceiling indicator, the rating is automatically an "Above Standard Achievement" with a final score of 89.
For the Fiscal Year 2024 based on data from Fiscal Year 23 (Sept 2022-Aug 2023), Westlake Academy received a Substandard Achievement Rating.
* Although the Academy received an unmodified opinion on the FY23 annual audit, it was presented and approved by the Board of Trustees on August 5, 2024. The Annual Financial Report (AFR) was due to the Texas Educat...
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