AUSTIN – Commissioner of Education Mike Morath announced today that a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting has been awarded to the Texas Permanent School Fund for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2017.
 
Awarded by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA), the Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting. GFOA representatives say the certificate represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

Commissioner Morath noted this marks the fourth consecutive year that the Permanent School Fund’s annual report has received this national recognition. The Permanent School Fund’s comprehensive annual financial report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, including demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the financial report.

“Over the decades, the Permanent School Fund has maintained a strong reputation for being professionally managed while providing transparency to taxpayers,” said Commissioner Morath. “This ongoing commitment has resulted in continued benefit for schoolchildren in every part of our state.”

The Texas Permanent School Fund was created with a $2 million appropriation by the Texas Legislature in 1854 expressly for the benefit of the public schools of Texas and has grown tremendously over the years. Now at more than $43 billion, it is the largest educational endowment in the country. Texas Education Agency staff manages the fund’s financial assets, with investment oversight provided by the State Board of Education. The School Land Board manages, and the General Land Office administers, the land, mineral rights and some real estate holdings owned by the fund.

The GFOA is a non-profit professional association serving approximately 17,500 government finance professionals with offices in Chicago and Washington D.C. Details of recent Certificate of Achievement recipients and other information about the program are available on the GFOA website at www.gfoa.org.

To view the Texas Permanent School Fund’s comprehensive annual report for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2017, visit http://tea.texas.gov/Finance_and_Grants/Texas_Permanent_School_Fund/Texas_Permanent_School_Fund_-_Annual_Report. 

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