By:  Hochberg                                                     H.B. No. 100



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to school district accounting systems                                
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 44.07, Education Code, is amended by 
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
	(e)  The State Board of Education shall prepare a report for 
the 80th Legislature evaluating the benefits of providing school 
districts with standardized accounting software that would meet the 
requirements of this section and any other appropriate sections.  
The report shall consider any savings and costs to school districts 
from having such software provided, including any savings to 
districts from no longer paying programming costs in response to 
changes in state law or agency or State Board of Education rules.  
The report may consider software accessed by alternative methods, 
such as web-based methods or network-based methods, as may be most 
economical for districts of different sizes.  The report shall also 
consider any accountability benefits from making the information 
collected by such software available on an ongoing basis to the 
agency and to the public, and personnel and other costs required for 
the agency to review this information continuously to alert school 
board members and superintendents of areas of potential waste or 
fraud.  This subsection expires September 1, 2007.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the 
legislative session.