Texas Comptroller Susan Combs wants school districts to provide the public with more information regarding what they spend on new construction.
“Currently there is no required standard for reporting school construction costs, so it is extremely difficult for taxpayers to determine how their tax dollars are being spent,” Combs said in a statement.
According to a report released June 30, the comptroller’s office had to file public information requests to get details on school construction spending. The research showed that campus construction varied as much as $200 per square foot, the Sugar Land Sun reported.
“Unfortunately, we encountered numerous obstacles in our efforts to collect consistent, comparable school construction data and taxpayers are entitled to this information,” Combs said.
As a result she is making policy recommendations to buttress construction efficiency and enable taxpayers to monitor the costs.
