Sec. 44.008. ANNUAL AUDIT; REPORT. (a) The board of school trustees of each school district shall have its school district fiscal accounts audited annually at district expense by a certified or public accountant holding a permit from the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. The audit must be completed following the close of each fiscal year.

(b) The independent audit must meet at least the minimum requirements and be in the format prescribed by the State Board of Education, subject to review and comment by the state auditor. The audit shall include an audit of the accuracy of the fiscal information provided by the district through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).

(c) Each treasurer receiving or having control of any school fund of any school district shall keep a full and separate itemized account with each of the different classes of its school funds coming into the treasurer's hands. The treasurer's records of the district's itemized accounts and records shall be made available to audit.

(d) A copy of the annual audit report, approved by the board of trustees, shall be filed by the district with the agency not later than the 150th day after the end of the fiscal year for which the audit was made. If the board of trustees declines or refuses to approve its auditor's report, it shall nevertheless file with the agency a copy of the audit report with its statement detailing reasons for failure to approve the report.

(e) The audit reports shall be reviewed by the agency, and the commissioner shall notify the board of trustees of objections, violations of sound accounting practices or law and regulation requirements, or of recommendations concerning the audit reports that the commissioner wants to make. If the audit report reflects that penal laws have been violated, the commissioner shall notify the appropriate county or district attorney and the attorney general. The commissioner shall have access to all vouchers, receipts, district fiscal and financial records, and other school records as the commissioner considers necessary and appropriate for the review, analysis, and passing on audit reports.

(f) An open-enrollment charter school shall provide an accounting of each parcel of the school's real property, including identifying the amount of local, state, and federal funds used to purchase or improve each parcel of property.

(g) An open-enrollment charter school for which the charter has expired, been revoked, or been surrendered or an open-enrollment charter school that otherwise ceases to operate shall submit a final annual financial report to the agency. The report must verify that all state property held by the charter holder has been returned or disposed of in accordance with Section 12.128.

(h) The commissioner may adopt rules necessary to implement this section, including rules defining local funds.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 260, Sec. 1, eff. May 30, 1995. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 914, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

Amended by:

Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 631 (S.B. 1454), Sec. 13, eff. June 10, 2019.