Comptroller Huffines Says Austin ISD Is Refusing to Cooperate With His Performance Review
Texas Comptroller Don Huffines said Monday that Austin ISD has stopped cooperating with his office's performance review and is refusing to meet his auditors — and that the review, covering four Texas districts, will be published by year's end with or without the district's help.
AUSTIN — Texas Comptroller Don Huffines said Monday that the Austin Independent School District is attempting to avoid scrutiny of how it spends local and state tax dollars by discontinuing cooperation in a performance review conducted by his office.
Huffines announced the review on Oct. 5, covering a geographically diverse group of four districts — Austin, Barbers Hill, El Paso and Prosper — at the request of Gov. Greg Abbott. Site visits by Comptroller staff have been completed in the other three districts, his office said; Austin ISD, he said, is now refusing to meet with agency auditors, according to the district's lawyer. The comptroller's release did not include a response from the district.
"When politicians and bureaucrats attempt to prevent an investigation into how they spend money, it obviously raises serious questions about what they are hiding," Huffines said. "Taxpayers deserve to know if their tax dollars are being stolen or wasted on administrative bloat and luxury trips instead of educating students in the classroom."
"I have news for the leadership of AISD. You can run, but you can't hide," Huffines said. "Our review will continue, and a full report will be published with or without your cooperation." The report is due by the end of the year so the Legislature can consider its recommendations; if criminal wrongdoing is discovered, his office said, it will be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
