The Edcouch-Elsa Independent School District says that missing a deadline to submit an audit led to the district receiving the lowest possible score for its 2021-22 state financial rating, the results of which were released last week.
Edcouch-Elsa was the only district in the Rio Grande Valley and one of only eight in Texas to receive an F in its FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) ratings this year.
The score ends a six-year streak of A and B ratings at the district.
Superintendent Greg Rodriguez said Thursday that despite the rating, the district is not in some kind of financial crisis.
“We’re certainly not happy with that rating, but the district is financially sound,” he said. “We did have a good year where we were able to build up our fund balance. Financially, we’re in good shape.”
Rodriguez said the rating was entirely attributable to submitting that audit late, a mistake he says was caused by trying to manage a large amount of information amid personnel turnover. The district did, he said, ultimately manage to provide everything to its auditor.
“Now we were late because we were thorough and we were making sure that we got everything in order, every system, every check and balance that had to be in place,” he said. “We took our time, we did it right and consequently we didn’t meet our deadline.”
According to Rodriguez, personnel changes may remain an issue for the next audit, although he says the district will contract out for additional support for its preparation and Rodriguez says he’s confident the district will be able to submit it on time.
“We were very disappointed that we didn’t make our deadline, but we put everything in place this year so we can meet our deadline,” he said. “Because we know, again, that the district is financially sound but our F rating kind of makes it seem like we may have some financial troubles — which we do not, we just have an issue with providing documentation in time.”
Rodriguez says he does not foresee the district facing any significant repercussions from the rating.
“Not at the current time,” he said. “Now, if we were to continue down this path, there may be repercussions later that TEA may put in place for us. But as far as the actual finances — like let’s say when they look at our bond rating or something like that, they do look at the underlying financial outlook for the district … and there’s still the underlying financial data that shows the district is financially sound.”
