LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              March 27, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Paul Sadler, Chair, House Committee on Public
               Education
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB1843  by Jones, Elizabeth (Relating to the
               administration of assessment instruments in public
               schools.), As Introduced
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
*                                                                        *
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Presently, all the same subject-area TAAS assessments must be
administered by districts on the same day by grade level in order to
maintain security.  The bill allows a two-week window in which districts
may give the tests.  According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA),
this would open the testing program to a significant potential for
violations of the security of the tests and other testing
irregularities.  In order to mitigate such violations, the agency
estimates an annual cost of $21-26 million for the development of
multiple forms of the test and additional monitoring.   Because the
testing program is funded by the Foundation School Program's
compensatory education allotment, the $21-26 million would be recognized
as a reduction in revenue available for distribution to districts, and
thus there would be no net cost to the state.
  
Local Government Impact
  
School districts that receive state aid under the Foundation School
Program through the compensatory education allotment would experience an
annual reduction in that distribution equal to the annual costs
incurred by TEA for multiple test development, additional monitoring and
other test security measures.  TEA estimates these annual costs to total
$21-26 million.
  
  
Source Agencies:   701   Texas Education Agency
LBB Staff:         JK, CT, PF, JM