Hinojosa Bill Puts School Spending In A Free Online Database

The text as introduced · 855 words

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.