Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB2003 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R4927 CS-D
2	2	By: Hinojosa of Nueces S.B. No. 2003
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to training requirements for certain governing bodies and
10	10	administrators of public schools and making publicly available
11	11	information regarding the expenditure of money by those public
12	12	schools.
13	13	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
14	14	SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 7, Education Code, is
15	15	amended by adding Section 7.032 to read as follows:
16	16	Sec. 7.032. TRAINING FOR GOVERNING BODIES AND
17	17	ADMINISTRATORS. (a) The agency shall contract with one or more
18	18	third parties to provide in-person or virtual training to the board
19	19	of trustees of a school district, the governing body of an
20	20	open-enrollment charter school, and district or school
21	21	superintendents, principals, chief financial officers, and other
22	22	administrators involved with issues regarding school finance and
23	23	academic achievement.
24	24	(b) The training must include information regarding:
25	25	(1) instruction and programming, including:
26	26	(A) research on proven practices in reading and
27	27	mathematics; and
28	28	(B) how to interpret and act on state and local
29	29	assessment instrument data;
30	30	(2) personnel, including contracts that allow for
31	31	innovative practices;
32	32	(3) fiscal management, including budgeting practices
33	33	and transparency requirements;
34	34	(4) operations, including capital planning; and
35	35	(5) governance, including applicable state and
36	36	federal laws and the potential for innovative practices.
37	37	(c) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
38	38	implement this section, including rules providing a schedule for
39	39	the training required under this section.
40	40	SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 403, Government Code, is
41	41	amended by adding Section 403.0243 to read as follows:
42	42	Sec. 403.0243. PUBLIC SCHOOL EXPENDITURE DATABASE. (a) For
43	43	purposes of this section, "public school" means a school district
44	44	or an open-enrollment charter school granted a charter under
45	45	Subchapter D, Chapter 12, Education Code.
46	46	(b) The comptroller shall establish and post in a prominent
47	47	location on the comptroller's Internet website a database of public
48	48	school expenditures that is electronically searchable by the public
49	49	except as provided by Subsection (d). The database must include:
50	50	(1) the amount, date, payor, and payee of each
51	51	expenditure;
52	52	(2) for a payment to an employee of a public school,
53	53	the employee's job title or other information that identifies the
54	54	employee's role;
55	55	(3) for a payment for curriculum, instructional
56	56	materials, software, or other educational materials, the name and
57	57	organization that developed the product or service; and
58	58	(4) a listing of each expenditure by:
59	59	(A) object of expense with links to the warrant
60	60	or check register level; and
61	61	(B) to the extent maintained by public school
62	62	accounting systems in a reportable format, class and item levels.
63	63	(c) To the extent possible, the comptroller shall present
64	64	information in the database established under this section in a
65	65	manner that is searchable by and intuitive to users. The
66	66	comptroller shall enhance and organize the presentation of the
67	67	information through the use of graphical representations, such as
68	68	pie charts, as the comptroller considers appropriate. At a
69	69	minimum, the database must allow users to:
70	70	(1) search and aggregate public school expenditures by
71	71	any element of the information;
72	72	(2) ascertain through a single search the total amount
73	73	of public school money awarded to a person by a public school; and
74	74	(3) download information yielded by a search of the
75	75	database.
76	76	(d) The comptroller may not allow public access under this
77	77	section to a payee's address, except that the comptroller may allow
78	78	public access under this section to information identifying the
79	79	county in which the payee is located. The comptroller may not allow
80	80	public access under this section to information that is identified
81	81	by a public school as excepted from required disclosure under
82	82	Chapter 552 or as confidential. It is an exception to the
83	83	application of Section 552.352(a) that the comptroller or an
84	84	officer or employee of the comptroller's office posted information
85	85	under this section in reliance on a determination made by a public
86	86	school regarding the confidentiality of information relating to the
87	87	school's expenditures. The comptroller or an officer or employee
88	88	of the comptroller's office is immune from civil liability for
89	89	posting confidential information under this section if the
90	90	comptroller, officer, or employee posted the information in
91	91	reliance on a determination made by a public school regarding the
92	92	confidentiality of information relating to the school's
93	93	expenditures.
94	94	(e) Each transaction by a public school must be assigned a
95	95	function and subfunction category as defined by the National Center
96	96	for Education Statistics.
97	97	(f) Each public school shall submit to the comptroller in
98	98	accordance with comptroller rule the information required to be
99	99	included in the database.
100	100	(g) The comptroller shall update information in the
101	101	database annually.
102	102	(h) The comptroller may not charge a fee to the public to
103	103	access the database.
104	104	(i) The comptroller may establish procedures and adopt
105	105	rules to implement this section.
106	106	(j) Each public school shall post on the school's Internet
107	107	website a link to the webpage in the database established under this
108	108	section that displays a summary of the expenditures from the school
109	109	for the most recent state fiscal year.
110	110	SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the comptroller
111	111	of public accounts shall adopt all rules necessary to implement
112	112	Section 403.0243, Government Code, as added by this Act.
113	113	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.