The Brownsville Independent School District has received two financial accountability awards, the Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting — also known as the PAFR Award, from the Government Financial Officers Association, and the FIRST Award from the School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas.
The awards were announced at Tuesday night’s BISD Board of Trustees meeting, which was the first board meeting for three newly elected trustees. It also was Trustee Eddie Garcia’s first meeting as board president after being elected to the post. Garcia served out the balance of the term to which Erasmo Castro was elected two years ago but later resigned. When trustees were sworn into office in late November, Garcia was elected board president.
Superintendent Rene Gutierrez said he was “extremely proud of our Business and Finance teams. Last year, only five school districts were awarded out of the entire state of Texas. Now, BISD will be included this year and it shows that we are efficiently meeting the program’s standards of financial reporting.”
The award represents a significant achievement by BISD. To be eligible for the PAFR Award, an entity must also submit its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting program and receive the CAFR Award for the current fiscal year.
Judges evaluate each eligible report based on reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity and other elements.
The state’s school financial accountability rating system, known as the School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, or FIRST, ensures that Texas public schools are held accountable for the quality of their financial management practices and that they improve those practices. The system is designed to encourage Texas public schools to better manage their financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes.
The FIRST Award covered the 2019-2020 school year. For the second consecutive year the district received a superior achievement award by earning all of the points available in 15 scored categories for a score of 100%.
The categories include receiving a clean external audit, paying bonded debt and other obligations on time, and having the lowest administrative costs possible. In this category, BISD spent 2% of its budget administratively when 6% is allowed. Also, BISD had a fund balance of $168.7 million, the equivalent of 160 days of operating expenses, 100 days more than the target of 60 days.
