The Houston Chronicle has a story today about an audit of the Houston Independent School District's spending of federal tax money, as well as payments made with the district credit cards, or p-cards, issued to some employees:

Of the $21.7 million (in federal money), auditors found problems with less than 1 percent of the spending. About one-third of the 130 p-card charges were deemed troublesome.

The majority of questionable p-card charges involved gift cards and shirts that went to students with perfect attendance or good grades, according to the district.

The story says the school district owes the federal government more than $150,000 because of the audit's findings.

We thought readers might like a closer look at all the district's expenditures.

Texas Watchdog has posted below Houston ISD's database of payments, from January 2006 to mid-June 2009, made available through a request under the Texas Public Information Act.

You may also wish to view the district's own published check register, which goes back 24 months and is searchable by vendor name. And if you're interested in following the money at other districts, check out Peyton Wolcott's running list of districts that post their check registers online.

If you see a transaction in the HISD database that merits a closer look, please e-mail us at news@texaswatchdog.org or call 713-980-9777.

Search Houston ISD's payments database: