Cy-Fair ISD maintains ‘A’ 2024-25 state financial accountability rating

Cy-Fair ISD maintained its ‘A’ state financial accountability rating for the 24th consecutive year, Amanda Boles, assistant superintendent of business and financial services, said during an Oct. 8 board work session.

The gist

The Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas, or FIRST, holds districts accountable and evaluates their financial management practices, decisions and allocation for instructional purposes, Boles said. 

The Texas Education Agency, or TEA, utilizes 21 indicators to determine FIRST scores, and in the 2024-25 school year CFISD received maximum points on 19 out of the 20 scored indicators, Boles said. The indicators are sorted into three categories:

• Critical: incompletion of any of these four indicators results in immediate failure

• Solvency: 10 indicators fall under this category; administrative cost ratio was not scored in 2024-25

• Financial competency: seven indicators fall under this category

Boles said that although TEA did not evaluate administrative cost ratio for 2024-25 FIRST scores, CFISD estimated a 3.33% administrative cost ratio for 2024-25, with 8.55% as the maximum determined by TEA.

"We're very proud of the hard work of our financial organization, our departments, and the efforts to ensure that we use our tax dollars wisely and as efficiently as possible," Julie Hinaman, board of trustees president, said.

Also on the agenda

Jae Simpson-Butler, director of student services for admission, attendance and transfers, presented an update on the district’s goal of increasing attendance rates to 95%, or higher than those of the previous school year. 

Simpson-Butler said for the 2025-26 school year the cumulative attendance rate sat at 93.56%, an increase from the 2024-25 school year, and rates have continued to grow across the district in the current school year.

Simpson-Butler said the 0.43 percentage point increase seen this past school year increased revenue by $3 million to $4 million.

In other news

The board of trustees is slated to meet Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. in the Mark Henry Administration Building Boardroom located at 11440 Matzke Road, Cypress, for a regular meeting. A livestream option can be found here.