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• From Comptroller Susan Combs
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  Pipeline to the world
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  TEXpansion: Candy maker sweetens Grand Prairie
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  School district takes on transparency
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  Teamwork pays off for Mount Pleasant
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  Partnering for Impact: Boost your sales tax collections
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  Texas housing among strongest in the nation

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Bob Foster, technology coordinator for Hart ISD, says all school districts, even smaller districts without Web sites, can take advantage of free resources to post their financial data online.

Hart ISD’s Web site uses space on the Region 16 Education Service Center (ESC) Web site. Similar services are available to other Texas school districts through the state’s 20 ESCs.

“Smaller schools that may not have the technology should be able to ask their region ESCs for help in posting this kind of information,” Foster says.

Software is easy to use and readily available. Hart ISD uses Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional to edit and post documents on its Web site.

Foster recommends district personnel take an Adobe class or seek self-help from Adobe’s Web site for learning the program.

“There’s really no reason for any school district not to post budgets and check registers online,” Foster says. “Hopefully more schools will be doing this.”

Taking Transparency
to Hart

School district posts budget,
spending details online.

School district posts budget, spending details online.

by Karen Hudgins

Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the March/April 2009 issue of Texas Rising.

Visitors to the Hart Independent School District’s Web site can find details on the district’s budget and monthly spending, down to the precise amount spent on paper and utilities.

The small district of two schools and about 305 students has made financial transparency a priority. Hart ISD Superintendent David Rivera says the district has launched a new Web site that has been a valuable link with the community.

“The Internet is a great communications tool,” Rivera says. “It helps our district, local students, parents and businesses know what we’re doing and where the money is being spent. School districts really can be on the cutting edge of technology.”

Business Manager Nelda Ethridge prepares the district’s financial data to go online by converting it into PDF files. She then sends them to Bob Foster, the district’s technology coordinator, who edits the documents before posting them on the Hart ISD Web site, at www.hartisd.net.

“The board approves the bills each month,” Foster says. “After the business manager sends me the report as a PDF, I remove the check numbers from the PDF and post those online. It takes about an hour.”

Posting the district’s financial data online has won praise from the public and has improved relations between the school and the community, says Rivera.

“Taxpayers have the capability of knowing where dollars are being directed,” Rivera says. “Businesses that would like information can access the school’s Web site for current financial data without having to request it. Adding financial data to a comprehensive menu of school information already on the Web site keeps parents involved and helps the district fulfill a key part of the mission statement – ‘encouraging life-long learning for both students and adults.’”

Hart ISD’s transparency efforts have earned it a listing on the Comptroller’s Transparency Check-Up Web site, www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/checkup/, which lists Texas local governments, counties and school districts that are setting the standard in their transparency efforts.TR