LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  March 10, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Teel Bivins, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 717
          Committee on Education                              By: Duncan
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB717 ( Relating 
to keeping school campuses open after school hours for recreational 
purposes and tutoring.) this office has detemined the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB717-As Introduced
         
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
         

         
 
          
Bill Summary

The bill would amend Chapter 11 of the Texas 
Education Code by adding Section 11.164 to allow a local school 
board to adopt rules to keep a school open for student recreational 
activities and tutoring after school hours.  In addition, an 
employee or volunteer serving in an after-school program would 
have immunity from liability to the same extent as a school 
district s professional employees or volunteers.

This legislation 
would apply beginning with the 1997-98 school year.

Administrative 
Costs to Local Government

School districts that elect to 
keep schools open after regular school hours would incur costs 
associated with the operation of facilities (e.g. lighting, 
climate control, janitorial services) in direct proportion to 
the amount of additional operating hours.  The costs associated 
with the after-school programs (e.g. personnel, materials) are 
not included in this estimate.

The following cost estimate 
is based on the assumption that half of the state's schools 
would choose to remain open for an average of two more hours 
per day, or 10 more hours per week.  This assumption incorporates 
the fact that many schools are already open after hours for 
other reasons.  The Texas Education Agency does not collect 
after-school operations data, however.  There are 39 school 
weeks per calendar year and there are 6,750 campuses in the 
state.  

A local organization operating an extensive after 
hours program provided an example of the cost of facilities 
operation to the Texas Education Agency.  Twelve extra hours 
per week for one school building for a nine-month (39 week) 
period costs a total of $25,000.  This includes security, utilities, 
and janitorial services.  Accordingly, the hourly facilities 
cost is calculated to be:

 $25,000 / 39 = $641.03 per 12 
hour week
  and
 $641 / 12 = 53.41 per hour

Using this 
figure, it is estimated that the marginal statewide cost of 
facilities operations incurred by school districts that elect 
to offer extended hours would be just over $70 million.

 $53 
per hour x 10 hours per week = $534 per site per week
 $534 
per site per week x 39 weeks = $20,826 per site 9 mos.
 $20,826 
per site 9 mos. x (6,750/2) campuses = $70,287,750 for 10 hrs/week

Continuing 
Fiscal Implications - Local

The fiscal implications described 
above would be likely to continue beyond 2002. 
          
   Source:            Agencies:   701   Texas Education Agency - Administration
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,LP ,GJ ,DH