FAST Results 2014
The Comptroller’s Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST) examines both academic progress and spending at Texas’ school districts and individual school campuses.
Each district and campus is assigned a FAST rating of one to five stars, indicating its success in combining cost-effective spending with the achievement of measurable student academic progress. Five stars reflects the strongest relative progress combined with the lowest relative spending.
Explore the methodology and calculations used to produce the FAST ratings.
Five-Star Districts
December 2014
FAST identifies districts that have improved student achievement while keeping expenditures relatively low.
There are 46 five-star charter and public school districts in 2014. Of the 46 five-star districts, 26 held that rank last year, and 4 of those districts have achieved five-star ratings all five years of FAST.
The five-star districts for 2014 are:
- Accelerated Intermediate Academy (C)
- Aledo ISD
- Alief Montessori Community School (C)
- Allen ISD
- Arlington Classics Academy (C)
- Caddo Mills ISD
- Cameron ISD
- Celeste ISD
- Cisco ISD
- Clear Creek ISD
- Columbia-Brazoria ISD
- Conroe ISD
- Cumberland Academy (C)
- Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
- Dodd City ISD
- Dripping Springs ISD
- Fort Bend ISD
- Fort Worth Academy Of Fine Arts (C)
- Friendswood ISD
- Frisco ISD
- Golden Rule Charter School (C)
- Harmony ISD
- Harmony School Of Excellence (C)
- Harmony School Of Science (Houston) (C)
- Houston Gateway Academy Inc (C)
- Katy ISD
- Kopperl ISD
- Lamar CISD
- Life School (C)
- Lighthouse Charter School (C)
- Lindsay ISD
- Lone Oak ISD
- Lovejoy ISD
- Midland Academy Charter School (C)
- Moulton ISD
- Navarro ISD
- Pilot Point ISD
- School Of Science And Technology (C)
- Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School (C)
- Sunnyvale ISD
- Tekoa Academy Of Accelerated Studies (C)
- Treetops School International (C)
- Turkey-Quitaque ISD
- Vanguard Academy (C)
- Winnsboro ISD
- Zoe Learning Academy (C)
(C)
Denotes a charter operator. Like independent school districts, some charter operators run only one campus, while others run multiple campuses. All charter operators are considered school districts for the purposes of the FAST analysis.
Fiscal Peers
In light of the widely varying cost environments in which school districts function, direct financial comparisons among Texas districts would not be fair or appropriate. Instead, this study evaluates each district and campus against those identified as “fiscal peers,” districts and campuses that operate in a similar cost environment, are of similar size and serve similar students. Many factors influence the costs that a district faces:
- Cost of Living (Comparable Wage Index)
- School District Size
- Student Demographics
Explore 2014 Fiscal Peers
You can also download fiscal peers tables in .csv format.
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