The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its annual preliminary Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) ratings for school districts across the state. Lewisville ISD is submitting an appeal for its preliminary rating of F, which was given due to a series of clerical errors that impacted the submission of the completed board-approved audit by the required date. If not for the submission error, the district would have earned a score of 96, and the highest possible rating of Superior. 

“Lewisville ISD has received the highest possible rating in each of the 20 years TEA has rated the financial management of districts,” LISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lori Rapp said. “I am confident when the TEA reviews our appeal, our final rating in November will reflect the outstanding stewardship of taxpayer dollars for which our district is known.”

The LISD Board of Trustees approved the report at its Dec. 13 meeting in 2021, and the district first submitted information to TEA in the same month. In Jan. 2022 the district inadvertently submitted an incomplete PDF document, far ahead of the Feb. deadline for final submission. TEA notified the district of its mistake the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 25, and the district submitted the complete annual audit on Feb. 28, one day after the deadline. 

According to TEA, the FIRST system is designed to encourage Texas public schools to better manage their financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes.