Weslaco ISD earns top financial award from state

The tabulations are in, and the Weslaco ISD Business Office has received a perfect score of 100 points from the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) for sound financial planning. This is the ninth consecutive year that the Business Office has received this Superior rating from the Texas Education Agency. FIRST provides accountability for Texas public schools on the quality of their financial management practices.

Accounting for a $200 million operating budget is a monumental task considering that every employee has contact with the Business Office in one way or another.

“It is a team effort to get these points, everyone has to do their part and making sure that we follow the current guidelines and policies that the district has, and just by doing that great things happen here,” WISD Chief Financial Officer David Robledo said. WISD is one of nine districts out of 38 in the Valley that received a perfect score.

“This is due to the hard work of all the staff at the Business Office and the campuses and departments,” Robledo said.

FIRST utilizes 21 indicators to assess the district’s finances; if the district does not pass the first five indicators, a perfect score cannot be obtained. For example, FIRST tracks district payments to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to determine if they are made in a timely manner. The rest of the indicators are part of the yearly audit.

During the audit, balances are confirmed with banks, all TEA funding is accounted for; and local, state and federal monies are tracked. The district’s investments and revenues are also checked. Also, during an audit, a batch from the tens of thousands of checks paid by the district are spot checked to ensure that the correct accounts were used.

FIRST provides TEA with budget oversight that also flags school district that may not be performing optimal financial practices.

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Weslaco ISD