(a) Review cycle.--Every school district shall be subject to a best financial management practices review on a continuing six-year cycle. Once the six-year cycle has been completed, reviews shall continue, beginning again with those districts included in the first year of the cycle unless the district has been deemed entitled to a waiver pursuant to section 2507-A(d).¹

(b) (Reserved).

(c) Private firms.--The department is authorized to contract with a private firm or firms, selected through a formal request-for-proposal process to perform each review, to the extent that funds are provided for this purpose in the General Appropriation Act each year. Any private firm awarded a contract pursuant to this subsection shall have expertise in school district finance.

(d) Self-assessment.--Districts scheduled for review shall initially complete a self-assessment instrument developed by the department which indicates the school district's own evaluation of its performance on each best practice. The self-assessment shall begin no later than 60 days prior to the commencement of the review, with the completed assessment instrument and supporting documentation submitted to the department no later than the date scheduled for commencement of the review of the district.

(e) Public meetings during review.--During the review, the department and the firm conducting the review shall hold at least one advertised public meeting in order to explain the best financial management practices review process and obtain input from students, parents, the business community and other district residents regarding their observations and recommendations about the operations and management of the district.

(f) Information used in review process.--In completing its review and developing the final report, the review team shall use information available through the existing school evaluation services reports.

(g) Completion of review.--Reviews are to be completed within six months after commencement. A final report of the review team is to be issued to the secretary, the Governor, the district and its school board and the chairman and minority chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the chairman and minority chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, the chairman and minority chairman of the Education Committee of the Senate and the chairman and minority chairman of the Education Committee of the House of Representatives within 60 days of completion of the review.

(h) Public meeting after review.--Within 30 days of receipt of the final report of the review, the school board shall hold a public meeting to share the results with residents of the district. Such meeting shall comply with the provisions of 65 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 (relating to open meetings).

(i) Publication on World Wide Web.--No later than 15 days after the issuance of the final report by the review team, the department shall publish the district's review on its World Wide Web site. Prior to publication, the department shall issue a press release informing the public of the availability of this information.

(j) Findings in final report.--The final report shall include findings related to compliance with the standards based on their established indicators; potential cost savings; suggested recommendations for improvement; and, for those districts found not to be in compliance with the standards, a three-year action plan for achieving compliance. This action plan is to be developed in conjunction with officials from the school district.