(a) Required Reporting. A public junior college must submit data through required reporting mechanisms established by the Coordinating Board. The Coordinating Board may use information obtained through required reporting for:
  (1) calculating funding disbursed under this chapter;
  (2) providing timely data and analyses to inform management decisions by the governing body of each public junior college district;
  (3) administering or evaluating the effectiveness of programs; or
  (4) auditing the program.
(b) Financial Reporting: The Community College Annual Reporting and Analysis Tool (CARAT) and Annual Financial Report (AFR) Reporting.
  (1) Standards. Each public junior college district must submit their Annual Financial Report (AFR) for the preceding fiscal year by January 1. The public junior college must submit the AFR following the requirements provided in the Coordinating Board's Budget Requirements and Annual Financial Reporting Requirements for Texas Public Community Colleges, also known as the AFR Manual, for that fiscal year, in accordance with Texas Education Code, §61.065.
  (2) Format. Each public junior college must report AFR data for each completed fiscal year as prescribed in the Community College Reporting and Analysis Tool (CARAT) by January 31 of the following fiscal year.
  (3) Review Process. The Commissioner of Higher Education will update the AFR Manual, as required by Texas Education Code, §61.065. The AFR Manual will conform to Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) statements and guidance.
(c) Financial Reporting: Report of Fundable Operating Expenses (RFOE).
  (1) Standards. Each public junior college must report all instructional expenses from each completed fiscal year for each institutional discipline and unallocated administrative expenses as defined in the RFOE by January 31 of the following fiscal year.
  (2) Coordinating Board staff shall use the data provided on expenses at public junior colleges to produce a study of costs for each instructional discipline each year. This study will review all expenses made by institutions for instruction and administration from all unrestricted sources of funds, including appropriated general revenue, tuition and fees, contract instruction, other educational and general revenue, and local tax revenue.
(d) Financial Reporting: Integrated Fiscal Reporting System (IFRS).
  (1) Standards. Each public junior college shall l report comprehensive tuition and fee financial data each fiscal year through IFRS.
  (2) The Coordinating Board may use data reported through IFRS to establish average annual tuition and fee charges as necessary to implement this chapter.
(e) Academic Reporting: Education Data System reporting.
  (1) Standards. Each public junior college must use data standards established by the Commissioner of Higher Education to submit required information relating to the delivery of educational programs. The Commissioner of Higher Education shall adopt and publish annually data standards in official Coordinating Board publications, including through the Coordinating Board Management (CBM) Reporting and Procedures Manual for Texas Community, Technical, and State Colleges. The Coordinating Board will widely disseminate this publication, which will include:
    (A) descriptions of the data collections and submission requirements;
    (B) descriptions of data elements and the codes used to report them, including data used to calculate Full-Time Student Equivalent enrollments, Texas Success Initiative eligibility of students, student transfer, dual credit or dual enrollment, the number and type of credentials conferred, and other relevant student characteristics;
    (C) detailed responsibilities of public junior colleges in connection to the data submission process, including each deadline for submission and resubmission; and
    (D) descriptions of data submission requirements, including submission record layout specifications and data edit specifications.
  (2) A public junior college may report a student in attendance on the approved course census date for the purpose of funding under this subchapter, in accordance with Texas Education Code, §130A.008.
  (3) Review Process. The Commissioner of Higher Education shall review the CBM Reporting and Procedures Manuals annually. The Commissioner of Higher Education may approve changes to the data and reporting standards outside of the annual review process to expedite implementation of data collections and reporting.
  (4) Certification. The reporting official for each public junior college must certify the accuracy of the report by a certification statement submitted to the Coordinating Board's Educational Data Center in accordance with the template and instructions provided in the CBM Reporting and Procedures Manual.
(f) Academic Reporting: Ad Hoc Reporting Requests. As necessary to implement this chapter, the Commissioner of Higher Education may determine the need for additional, limited, supplemental requests for data and information from public junior colleges. To the extent Ad Hoc Reporting Requests may determine or influence funding disbursements under this subchapter, the Coordinating Board shall require the reporting official or another Coordinating Board designated official for each public junior college to certify the accuracy of the information contained in the report.

Source Note: The provisions of this §13.524 adopted to be effective February 15, 2024, 49 TexReg 676