Austin ISD no longer cooperating with comptroller review

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin ISD says it will no longer be cooperating with the state's review of how it uses public funding.

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines chose AISD for an investigation into if the district has been following state law in its spending habits.

Why is AISD not cooperating with the Comptroller's office?

What they're saying:

Austin ISD says it was willing to act in good faith when it came to the review, but claims that the requests from the Comptroller's office began to become unrealistic to the point they declined to continue working with them.

In a four-page letter sent on Friday, AISD laid out multiple reasons why it would no longer participate:

• Insufficient timeline
• Comptroller's obscure investigatory authority
• No defined scope

In the letter, AISD says that there isn't enough time for officials to fairly evaluate the district by the Dec. 31 deadline. AISD is also questioning if the comptroller had the authority to interview over 30 district staff members and claiming officials were asking for documents unrelated to the review, such as the school library catalogue.

The comptroller's office says it is going forward with the review, with or without the district.

Huffines says the evaluation of Austin ISD will be published by the end of the year, just in time for the Texas legislature to review. 

In a statement, he said: "I have news for the leadership of AISD. You can run, but you can’t hide. Our review will continue, and a full report will be published with or without your cooperation."

The backstory:

This began with a call from Gov. Greg Abbott back in August to look at the spending of up to four independent school districts to determine if they are spending their taxpayer funding appropriately.

Abbott did not provide an example of funds being misused in his request letter.

Abbott tasked the comptroller with selecting districts of varying size and geographic locations, providing a list to the governor's office of the districts chosen and a timeline for the investigation by Dec. 31.

Huffines then announced in early October which school districts he had selected: Austin ISD, Barbers Hill ISD, El Paso ISD, and Prosper ISD.

The review will "examine whether district spending complies with state law and is directed toward students, classrooms, and teachers — rather than toward administrative expansion or non‑instructional bureaucracy," said an Oct. release from the Comptroller's office.

The final report is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, providing the 90th Legislature sufficient time to consider any recommendations for reform, said Huffines in October.

Big picture view:

Huffines lost his election to remain comptroller to State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt as part of the Blue Wave that swept all of Texas's statewide offices, like the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Eckhart has said as comptroller that she would limit the extent of the district evaluations, but for now it is out of her hands.

Local perspective:

"Is there fraud? And is there corruption going on in Austin ISD?" said Mandy Drogin, senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. "The Texas taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent."

Drogin says that a review such as the one being carried out at AISD can answer crucial questions about whether public funds are being used correctly.

"How much are they spending on outside consultants, their administration, their curriculum providers, their contractors, and who is benefiting from these expenditures?" said Drogin.

Others see the spending review as politically motivated.

In a statement, the Texas AFT, one of the state's largest educator unions, said, "Comptroller Huffines lost his bid for election to Eckhardt last week and this waste of scarce resources is top of the list of reasons why."

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