89R4927 CS-D

By: Hinojosa of Nueces S.B. No. 2003

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to training requirements for certain governing bodies and administrators of public schools and making publicly available information regarding the expenditure of money by those public schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 7, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 7.032 to read as follows:

Sec. 7.032. TRAINING FOR GOVERNING BODIES AND ADMINISTRATORS. (a) The agency shall contract with one or more third parties to provide in-person or virtual training to the board of trustees of a school district, the governing body of an open-enrollment charter school, and district or school superintendents, principals, chief financial officers, and other administrators involved with issues regarding school finance and academic achievement.

(b) The training must include information regarding:

(1) instruction and programming, including:

(A) research on proven practices in reading and mathematics; and

(B) how to interpret and act on state and local assessment instrument data;

(2) personnel, including contracts that allow for innovative practices;

(3) fiscal management, including budgeting practices and transparency requirements;

(4) operations, including capital planning; and

(5) governance, including applicable state and federal laws and the potential for innovative practices.

(c) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to implement this section, including rules providing a schedule for the training required under this section.

SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 403, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 403.0243 to read as follows:

Sec. 403.0243. PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURE DATABASE. (a) For purposes of this section, "public school" means a school district or an open-enrollment charter school granted a charter under Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code.

(b) The comptroller shall establish and post in a prominent location on the comptroller's Internet website a database of public school expenditures that is electronically searchable by the public except as provided by Subsection (d). The database must include:

(1) the amount, date, payor, and payee of each expenditure;

(2) for a payment to an employee of a public school, the employee's job title or other information that identifies the employee's role;

(3) for a payment for curriculum, instructional materials, software, or other educational materials, the name and organization that developed the product or service; and

(4) a listing of each expenditure by:

(A) object of expense with links to the warrant or check register level; and

(B) to the extent maintained by public school accounting systems in a reportable format, class and item levels.

(c) To the extent possible, the comptroller shall present information in the database established under this section in a manner that is searchable by and intuitive to users. The comptroller shall enhance and organize the presentation of the information through the use of graphical representations, such as pie charts, as the comptroller considers appropriate. At a minimum, the database must allow users to:

(1) search and aggregate public school expenditures by any element of the information;

(2) ascertain through a single search the total amount of public school money awarded to a person by a public school; and

(3) download information yielded by a search of the database.

(d) The comptroller may not allow public access under this section to a payee's address, except that the comptroller may allow public access under this section to information identifying the county in which the payee is located. The comptroller may not allow public access under this section to information that is identified by a public school as excepted from required disclosure under Chapter 552 or as confidential. It is an exception to the application of Section 552.352(a) that the comptroller or an officer or employee of the comptroller's office posted information under this section in reliance on a determination made by a public school regarding the confidentiality of information relating to the school's expenditures. The comptroller or an officer or employee of the comptroller's office is immune from civil liability for posting confidential information under this section if the comptroller, officer, or employee posted the information in reliance on a determination made by a public school regarding the confidentiality of information relating to the school's expenditures.

(e) Each transaction by a public school must be assigned a function and subfunction category as defined by the National Center for Education Statistics.

(f) Each public school shall submit to the comptroller in accordance with comptroller rule the information required to be included in the database.

(g) The comptroller shall update information in the database annually.

(h) The comptroller may not charge a fee to the public to access the database.

(i) The comptroller may establish procedures and adopt rules to implement this section.

(j) Each public school shall post on the school's Internet website a link to the webpage in the database established under this section that displays a summary of the expenditures from the school for the most recent state fiscal year.

SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the comptroller of public accounts shall adopt all rules necessary to implement Section 403.0243, Government Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.