Liberty Hill ISD Earns State’s Highest Fiscal Accountability Rating

Liberty Hill Independent School District officials announced that the district received a rating of “A - Superior Achievement” for the 2022-23 School FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) for the seventh year at the Board meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. The “Superior Achievement” rating is the state’s highest, demonstrating the quality of Liberty Hill ISD’s financial management and reporting system. 

School FIRST is a financial accountability system for Texas school districts developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The primary goal of School FIRST is to achieve quality performance in the management of school districts’ financial resources, a goal made more significant due to the complexity of accounting associated with Texas’ school finance system. 

“We are very proud of our finance department and LHISD for this achievement,” said Superintendent Steve Snell. “We work very hard to make sure that we are using our taxpayers money wisely, while always focusing on the needs of our students. This proves that.”

The TEA developed School FIRST in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76th Texas Legislature in 1999 and amendments under House Bill 5, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013. TEA assigned one of four financial accountability ratings to Texas school districts, with the highest being “A” for “Superior Achievement,” followed by “B” for “Above-Standard Achievement,” “C” for “Standard Achievement” and “F” for “Substandard Achievement.”