H.B. 1146 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1146 By: Dutton Public Education Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Under current law, there is no limit to the number of charter school audits initiated and/or conducted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The timing, extensiveness, and frequency of audits performed has put an undue burden on the resources and the administrators of the charter schools to meet such imposed deadlines. There have been instances of repeat program and financial audits conducted within a fiscal year at charter schools selected by the TEA without specific cause or reasonable justification. PURPOSE House Bill 1146 is intended to limit the number of audits performed at charter schools to one financial audit and one administrative records audit in any fiscal year, unless the commissioner of education has specific cause to conduct an additional audit. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1146 amends the Education Code by prohibiting the commissioner of education from conducting more than one financial and administrative records audit of an open-enrollment charter school in any fiscal year, unless the commissioner has specific cause to conduct additional audits. For purposes of this bill, an audit of a charter holder or management company is not considered an audit of the school. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003.