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.