LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
March 13, 2001
TO: Honorable Paul Sadler, Chair, House Committee on Public
Education
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB1627 by Grusendorf (Relating to improvement of the
mathematics skills of public school students.), As
Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB1627, As Introduced: negative impact of $(42,888,686) through *
* the biennium ending August 31, 2003. *
* *
* The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal *
* basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of *
* the bill. *
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General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $(18,298,222) *
* 2003 (24,590,464) *
* 2004 (27,177,219) *
* 2005 (32,632,219) *
* 2006 (35,092,219) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
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*Fiscal Probable Probable Change in Number of *
* Year Savings/(Cost) from Savings/(Cost) from State Employees from *
* General Revenue Fund Certification and FY 2001 *
* 0001 Assessment Fees *
* (General Revenue *
* Fund) *
* 0751 *
* 2002 $(18,298,222) $0 7.0 *
* 2003 (24,668,359) 77,895 7.0 *
* 2004 (27,265,221) 88,002 3.0 *
* 2005 (32,720,221) 88,002 3.0 *
* 2006 (35,180,221) 88,002 3.0 *
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Fiscal Analysis
The bill has a number of requirements:
(1.) The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) would be required
to establish a master mathematics teacher certificate and develop a
related course of study.
(2.) The Texas Education Agency (TEA) would be required to establish the
master mathematics teacher grant program, providing $5,000 stipends to
qualified teachers.
(3.) TEA would be required to develop professional development
institutes for mathematics teachers and to develop training materials.
(4.) TEA would be required to develop and make available to school
districts assessment instruments that can be used to diagnose student
mathematics skills.
(5.) The bill authorizes a state-funded after-school or summer intensive
mathematics instruction program.
(6) For the master mathematics teacher grant program, the professional
development institutes, and the after-school/summer instruction
program, the bill includes provisions to adjust the programs should
state funding be insufficient to fully fund the programs.
Methodology
This estimate is based upon information provided by TEA and SBEC.
The master mathematics teacher certification exam is estimated to have a
contracted cost $363,000 and require one additional employee to oversee
the development of the exam and the course of instruction. The number of
teachers earning certificates in 2003 is assumed to be 435, which is
based on the actual number of teachers earning master reading teacher
certificates in 2001. The number of new teachers earning certificates
for each year thereafter is assumed to increase by 491 for each year
thereafter, until 2006 when the cumulative number of teachers eligible
for a master mathematics teacher grant stabilizes at the Texas Education
Agency's estimate of 2,400.
The estimated cost of the master mathematics teacher grant program is
based on $5,000 stipends for 435 teachers (actual master reading teacher
total) for a total of $2,175,000 in fiscal year 2003. It is assumed that
grant-receiving teachers will remain eligible for the stipend in future
years. It is assumed that an additional 491 teachers will be certified
to receive the stipend in fiscal year 2004 and each fiscal year
thereafter, increasing the grant cost by $2,455,000. It is assumed that
the total number of certified teachers will stabilize at 2,400 in fiscal
year 2006.
The professional development institutes are estimated to serve about
28,741 teachers of mathematics. It is assumed that half the teachers
(14,370) would be trained in each of the first two year at a cost of $600
each for stipends, and that each 360 training sessions would cost
$10,000 to provide. Initial course material and development costs are
estimated at $1,500,000, for a total cost of $13,735,275 for each of the
first two years. These costs would decrease after the first two-year
period.
The cost of diagnostic instruments is an estimated contracted cost of
$150,000 per grade per year and three additional state employees for a
two-year development period. These costs and the additional personnel
would not be needed after fiscal year 2003.
The after-school/summer instruction program and its grants are estimated
to increase a four-year period, from $5,000,000 in fiscal year 2002 to
$20,000,000 in fiscal year 2005. The funding at $20,000,000 would be
sufficient to provide services to about 30,000 students for a thirty-day
time period.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated. School districts must pay stipends to qualified master
mathematics teachers beginning in 2002-03, as well as report to TEA
information on these teachers. It is estimated that these requirements
should have minimal fiscal impact to school districts.
Source Agencies: 701 Texas Education Agency, 705 State Board for
Educator Certification
LBB Staff: JK, CT, JM