{"id":17591,"date":"2025-10-23T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/17591\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:02:09","slug":"garland-isd-earns-perfect-score-on-state-financial-integrity-rating-blue-ribbon-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/17591\/","title":{"rendered":"Garland ISD earns perfect score on state financial integrity rating \u2013 Blue Ribbon News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">GARLAND, TX (Oct. 23 2025) \u2014 Garland Independent School District earned a perfect score of 100 on the Texas Education Agency\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/tealprod.tea.state.tx.us\/First\/forms\/District.aspx?year=2023&amp;district=057909\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas<\/a> (FIRST), demonstrating outstanding financial management and accountability. The 2024-2025 rating is based on data from the 2023-2024 school year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">FIRST evaluates school districts on 21 key indicators, including budgetary practices, debt management, financial solvency, and efficiency in managing public funds. Garland ISD met or exceeded all standards, earning full points across every category. The rating ensures districts are using taxpayer dollars responsibly and transparently.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">\u201cThe most important factor for acquiring a perfect score was the foresight of leadership that keeps in mind the district\u2019s financial stability when taking long-term decisions,\u201d said Arturo Valenzuela, Executive Director of Finance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">Achieving a perfect score reflects Garland ISD\u2019s dedication to exceptional financial management.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">Valenzuela described how the finance department maintains this standard year after year: \u201cBy holding constant meetings with each other and being honest about items that need to be addressed. The constant communication allows key members of our team to understand the importance of their roles and how they contribute to acquiring and maintaining the Superior Achievement status.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">A perfect FIRST rating also reflects the district\u2019s commitment to transparency. Garland ISD publicly shares its FIRST results each year. The results will be presented during the regular board meeting on October 28, 2025, following a public notice published in The Dallas Morning News on October 6, 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0in;\">\u201cSince the beginning of the A-F rating in the 2015-16 school year, Garland ISD has received an \u2018A\u2019 Superior Achievement rating from the TEA.\u00a0All but one year have been a perfect 100 score, which shows the ongoing commitment to strong financial stewardship,\u201d said Darrell Dodds, Chief Financial Officer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 12.0pt 0in 12.0pt 0in;\">Garland ISD continues to set the standard for financial transparency and accountability, ensuring taxpayer dollars are managed responsibly while supporting the district\u2019s mission and community trust.<\/p>\n<p>Submitted press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"posttags\">\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blueribbonnews.com\/tag\/financial-integrity\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">financial integrity<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blueribbonnews.com\/tag\/garland-isd\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Garland ISD<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blueribbonnews.com\/tag\/perfect-rating\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">perfect rating<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GARLAND, TX (Oct. 23 2025) \u2014 Garland Independent School District earned a perfect score of 100 on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-17591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}