Upshur And Local ISD's Not As Transparent As They Could Be

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs takes the measure of online financial reporting by counties, and finds Upshur to be one among many counties not posting all of it's records on the web.

Texas counties are not legally required to post financial records online. Under the "Open Records" law, county financial information is available to the public, in paper form, upon request. Some counties go a step further though, and post the information online, making the information far easier for the public to access.

That open approach is known as transparency, and it makes it easy for citizens to examine documents, question decisions, root out inefficiencies and hold officials accountable for the way tax dollars are spent.

Texas Transparency Check-up is a website launched by the Comptroller earlier this year to gauge just how open and user friendly each county in Texas is.

The site looks online for a county's budget, financial report and check register.

According to the site, 109 counties currently post no records online, and only 3, (Collin, Grayson and Tarrant) post all three record sets. Upshur posts it's budgets and financial reports, joining the majority of counties that post some records, but not check registries.

Another website, Texas Budget Source, tracks the financial postings of the state's Independent School Districts. Like counties, online posting is not a legal requirement for school districts.

While fairly comprehensive, the site is in error in several regards:

• It reports in error that Harmony does not post it's check registries.
• It reports in error that Union Grove does not post check registries. The ISD posts budgets, financial reports and check registries in it's "Board Book" Agenda Packets.
  

A search of that site for Upshur County ISD's reveals that our local school districts can, for the most part, be judged fairly transparent.

Union Grove ISD leads the pack, posting all three record sets. Ore City and Harmony follow by posting their budget and monthly check registers.

Union Hill post only it's budget. New Diana has a budget site, but the posting is outdated.

No financial records could be found on either Gilmer or Big Sandy's website.

Upshur ISD Web Presence And Financial Postings

ISD Name	Website	Budgets	Financial Reports	Check Registeries
Ore City	Website	Budget		Registry
Harmony	Website	Budget		Registry
New Diana	Website	Budget
Union Grove	Website	Budget	Report	Registry
Union Hill	Website	Budget
Big Sandy	Website
Gilmer	Website