LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  April 15, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Teel Bivins, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 1653
          Committee on Education                              By: Nelson
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB1653 ( Relating 
to campus or campus program charters.) this office has detemined 
the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB1653-As Introduced
         
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
         
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal 
basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions 
of the bill.

Bill Summary

The bill would amend Section 
12.054 of the Texas Education Code (TEC) to add certain powers 
and duties to campuses that receive a campus charter.  Among 
the delineated powers are the following:  control over spending; 
the power to hire, organize, train, and release staff; control 
over instructional strategies and methodologies; freedom to 
organize the campus or program schedule and teacher and student 
assignments; freedom to extend performance standards beyond 
those required by the local school board or state; and freedom 
to devise specific means to demonstrate their accountability 
to their communities beyond those means required by the state 
or local school district.

The bill would also add a new section 
to the TEC to allow a campus applying for a campus charter to 
appeal a decision of a local board of education to the commissioner 
of education.  The governor would have the authority to overrule 
the commissioner s decision.

This legislation would take 
effect September 1, 1997.

State Fiscal Impact

The Texas 
Education Agency would incur additional administrative costs 
related to the appeals process described above, but these costs 
are not anticipated to be significant and would be absorbed 
in the agency's existing budget.  

These costs are detailed 
as follows:  The commissioner of education could rule on applications 
for campus charters.  There are currently less than 10 campuses 
with a campus charter; however, the changes made in the bill 
to the delegated powers and duties of campus charters are expected 
to increase the number of campus charter requests.  If 10 percent 
of the 6,600 campuses apply for a charter, and 10 percent of 
those are denied and file an appeal with the commissioner of 
education, TEA would process 66 appeals per year.  This would 
not entail a significant additional cost burden to the state.
         
 
          
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated. 
 

The financing of the campus charter program is fully integrated 
within the existing public school financing system and this 
bill would not affect this system.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   701   Texas Education Agency - Administration
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,LP ,GJ