{"id":458213,"date":"2026-10-06T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/458213\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:58:09","slug":"austin-isd-among-4-texas-districts-selected-for-state-spending-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/458213\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ISD among 4 Texas districts selected for state spending review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin ISD is one of four Texas school districts <a href=\"https:\/\/comptroller.texas.gov\/about\/media-center\/news\/20261005-texas-comptroller-huffines-selects-school-districts-for-performance-review-1791236764567\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">selected for a detailed state review<\/a> of how they spend taxpayer money, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The review will also examine Barbers Hill ISD in Mont Belvieu, east of Houston; El Paso ISD; and Prosper ISD, north of Dallas. The four districts were chosen from more than 1,200 public school districts and charter systems across the state.<\/p>\n<p>The review will look at whether district spending complies with state law and is directed toward students, classrooms and teachers rather than administrative or other non-instructional costs, according to the comptroller&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This review is an important step to ensure transparency, accountability, and the responsible use of public funds,&#8221; Huffines said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Greg Abbott <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/abbott-orders-investigation-into-texas-school-district-finances\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">requested the review in August<\/a>, asking the comptroller to examine up to four districts of different sizes and from different parts of the state. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/abbott-orders-investigation-into-texas-school-district-finances\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Abbott orders investigation into Texas school district finances<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the time, Abbott singled out Austin ISD, saying its enrollment fell 14% from 2015 to 2025 while administrative spending per student rose 75%. Abbott has also proposed legislation requiring districts to spend at least 70% of their funds in the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement drew pushback from state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, who represents Austin and is the Democratic nominee for Texas comptroller.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our schools should be #1 instead of 46th, but that won&#8217;t happen when our schools are buried under constant and multiple layers of bureaucracy and political retribution rather than honest or helpful review,&#8221; Eckhardt said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The review comes as Austin ISD faces major budget challenges. The district approved an <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/austin-isd-trustees-approve-887m-operating-budget-for-next-school-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">$887 million budget<\/a> for this school year after cutting $205 million in operating expenses.<\/p>\n<p>The final report is due by Dec. 31, giving the Legislature time to consider any recommendations during its next session.<\/p>\n<p>CBS Austin has reached out to Austin ISD for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin ISD is one of four Texas school districts selected for a detailed state review&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-458213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458213","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=458213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}