SRC-TNM S.B. 1627 75(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1627
By: Duncan
Education
4-6-97
As Filed


DIGEST 

Currently, the State Auditor's Office (SAO) produces reports intended to
help Texas school districts make the best use of their funding.  The first
report, Management Audit of Public Schools: Making the Most of Our
Education Dollars, contained a series of recommendations with estimated
statewide savings of $640 million annually.  In May 1993, SAO produced a
second report of which the current Savings Profile System for Texas School
Districts is a product of that report.  This system was designed to
enhance the accountability of public education by providing comparative
information on school districts' non-instructional expenditures.  S.B.
1627 would outline provisions regarding the provision of certain
comparison data for public school districts. 

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.B. 1627 outlines provisions regarding the provision of
certain comparison data for public school districts. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 42.006, Education Code, to require the Texas
Education Agency (agency) to make available to school districts through
the Internet information on the students, student performance, staffing,
and financing of Texas public school districts, using data from the Public
Education Information Management System.  Requires the agency to provide
the information by county and region to enable a district to compare its
results to those of neighboring districts, its region, and statewide
averages. 

SECTION 2. Requires the State Auditor's Office to discontinue its
production of the annual Savings Profile System for Texas School District
reports. 

SECTION 3. (a) Requires the Texas Education Agency to make available
through the Internet the information required by Section 42.006(d),
Education Code, as added by this Act, as soon as practicable. 

(b) Requires the Texas Education Agency, on request by a school district,
to provide a report containing data comparable to that provided by the
State Auditor's Office in its Savings Profile System for Texas School
Districts reports until the information required by Section 42.006(d),
Education Code, as added by this Act, becomes available on the Internet. 

(c) Requires the Texas Education Agency to notify each school district of
the availability of the reports provided in Subsection (b) and inform each
district of when the school district data provided in the report will
become available on the Internet. 

SECTION 4. Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.