Texas Comptroller releases new website for measuring school district academics and financial responsibility

A new website by the Texas Comptroller's office allows Texans to compare school districts and campuses statewide on key academic and financial measures.

The Financial Allocation Study for Texas website, www.fastexas.org, uses data collected from the Texas Education Agency, to allow the public to see the relationship between tax dollars spent per student and the educational outcomes of school districts and campuses.

The website uses about 200 data points to allow a user to see how school districts match up in categories such as average student to teacher ratio, average teacher salary, spending per student, average graduation and dropout rates and outstanding debt per student.

The website also lists ways Texas school districts are using innovative and practical ways to save money and improve student achievement through practices in facilities, business services, staffing, technology and student services.

In December, Frisco ISD earned a distinction of being one of only 55 school districts in the state to receive a five star FAST rating that measures improving student achievement while keeping spending relatively low. Ratings are assigned to 1,141 school districts and charters from one to five stars, in half-star increments.

Frisco ISD ranked in the top 20 percent of all Texas school districts in academic progress, while keeping expenditures in the lowest 20 percent of fiscally comparable districts.

"The Texas Comptroller's office has always been one of the sharpest critics of public school spending," said Frisco ISD Superintendent, Jeremy Lyon.

He said the district has earned the Comptroller's highest awards for transparency and smart spending practices.

"We take that seriously and are very successful at it," he said.