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Pursuant to an executive order issued last summer by Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas Education Agency has proposed revisions to the state’s School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) that incorporate the 65% requirement. As you may recall, the 65% rule, as it is commonly called, would require school districts to spend at least 65% of their operating budgets on instruction. Though the governor’s executive order specified that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) definition of instructional expenses be used – which includes salaries for teachers, teacher aides, instructional supplies and extracurricular activities but excludes spending on counselors, nurses, libraries and librarians – the rule as proposed is somewhat broader. Expenses not deemed “instructional” would be paid from the remaining 35% of a district’s operating expenses.
In proposing the rule, TEA included libraries and librarians in the definition of instructional expenses, allowing these areas to be counted in determining whether 65% of a district’s expenditures went to instruction. Further, the 65% requirement is not a “critical indicator” – which automatically results in an unacceptable rating if it is not met. Instead, the 65% requirement, which will be phased in over three years under the proposal (55% to instruction is required for 2006-07, 60% for 2007-08, and 65% for 2008-09), is one indicator among many that determines a district’s financial accountability rating. Under the proposed rule, even if the 65% requirement is not met, a district may still receive full credit on this indicator if it publishes the check register for district expenditures other than salaries, which are specifically excluded, on its Web site.
However, district accountability ratings will also, for the first time, impact a district’s financial accountability rating under the proposed rule. A district may not receive an acceptable FIRST rating if the district is rated academically unacceptable, nor may a district receive a “superior achievement” rating on the FIRST system unless the district’s accountability rating was either exemplary or recognized.
TEA published the proposed rule on April 21 and accepted public comments, as required, until May 20. At a May 5 public hearing at TEA headquarters in Austin, comments centered on the omission of counselors, nurses and educational diagnosticians from the 65% definition of instructional expenses. Representatives of school counselors and school nurses associations specifically objected to the inclusion of extracurricular activities (including athletics) in the 65% formula, while key personnel who have a direct impact on student learning and who assist teachers were excluded. Many have been told that if left out of the 65% umbrella, they may lose their jobs and students would lose their services. Others objected to the 65% requirement, in general, saying there are no studies showing that it will result in higher achievement.
You may review the proposed rule at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/commissioner/proposed/0406/109-1002a-ltrprop.html. If the rule is approved by TEA with minimal changes, it will become effective July 16. If substantial changes are proposed, the rule must be reposted for additional comment.
