LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 88TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


March 13, 2023

TO:	Honorable Brad Buckley, Chair, House Committee on Public Education

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	HB1225 by Metcalf (Relating to the administration of certain required assessment instruments in paper format.), As Introduced

The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined due to the unknown number of students whose parent or guardian would request a paper test under the bill.

The bill would require school districts to offer the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and STAAR Spanish assessments in a paper format to any student whose parent or guardian requests it.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) does not have sufficient information to estimate the number of students whose parents or guardians may request a paper test each year; therefore, costs to implement the provisions of the bill cannot be determined. TEA indicates that the annual cost of providing paper versions of these assessments could be up to $21.1 million if all students were to request paper test materials. If the agency implemented an ordering timeline in advance of test administration, the costs for providing paper tests could be reduced. For example, if approximately 50 percent of the student population requested paper test materials before the ordering deadline, the resulting annual cost would be about $12.5 million.

Local Government Impact

It is assumed that schools would need to develop an organizational system to track student testing formats and may require additional staffing to administer both paper and online tests.