STAFF REPORT
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ELLIS COUNTY – Last month on November 13 the Texas Education Agency announced the 2024-2025 Financial Integrity or FIRST ratings for Texas public schools.
At that time 81% of school systems earned an ‘A’ or Superior Achievement rating for the 2024-2025 school year. This was done by their maintaining strong financial practices.
The School Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas was established by the 77th Texas Legislature in 2001 to provide accountability for Texas public schools on the quality of their financial management practices.
The ratings are based on annual financial reports submitted by school systems to TEA for the 2024 fiscal year.
School systems are assigned one of four possible letter grades (A, B, C, or F) under the financial accountability ratings, along with a coinciding financial management rating: Superior Achievement, Above Standard Achievement, Meets Standard Achievement or Substandard Achievement.
Final FIRST ratings are calculated using 21 financial indicators for both traditional school districts and public charter schools, such as administrative cost expenditures; the accuracy of a district or charter school’s financial information submitted to TEA; and any financial vulnerabilities or material weaknesses in internal controls as determined by an external auditor.
There are four critical indicators that result in an automatic F or Substandard Achievement rating should a school system fail in that specific category – regardless of their overall score.
All Texas public school systems are required to share their financial accountability ratings with parents and taxpayers at a public meeting to discuss the financial report.
For a final look at how the ISDs in Ellis County were graded by school and overall visit https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/financial-compliance/financial-integrity-rating-system-of-texas-first.
TEA has also listed a 2025 statewide summary updated December with details on accountability ratings for the ISD’s as of the end of the year https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/accountability/academic-accountability/performance-reporting/2025-accountability-rating-system.
Currently the ISDs in Ellis County are rated overall as follows according to a recent search:
ENNIS ISD – C
FERRIS ISD – B
ITALY ISD – B
MAYPEARL ISD – C
MIDLOTHIAN ISD – B
MILFORD ISD – C
PALMER ISD – B
RED OAK ISD – C
VENUS ISD – D
WAXAHACHIE ISD – C
For more information visit https://txschools.gov/?lng=en.
