AUSTIN – Last Thursday, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced the release of the 2024-25 Financial Integrity (or FIRST) ratings for all Texas public schools.
According to the statewide agency, which oversees public education in Texas, 81% of the state’s school systems earned an “A” grade for superior achievement on these metrics. All five school districts in Tyler County received either an “A” or “B” grade for their ratings. These statewide “A” ratings represent 866 out of 1,190 school districts and charter schools.
“By maintaining strong financial practices, these school systems are building brighter futures for the students and communities they serve,” a statement from TEA read.
Colmesneil ISD; Spurger ISD; Warren ISD and Woodville ISD all received A ratings under the FIRST system, while Chester ISD received a “B” for Above Standard Achievement.
The system, which is fully titled under the acronym as “The School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas” was established by the 77thTexas Legislature in 2001 in order to provide an accountability metric for school systems for the quality of financial management practices, according to TEA.
These metrics are arrived at from annual financial reports that are submitted by the school districts to TEA for each fiscal year, and the reports are reviewed by the agency before a rating is assigned. The ratings system is graded, much like the academic accountability ratings assigned by TEA, on a basis of four possible letter grades, A-F. The four grades possible are labelled, descending as: Superior Achievement, Above Standard Achievement, Meets Standard Achievement or Substandard Achievement.
