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