LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
April 30, 2001
TO: Honorable Paul Sadler, Chair, House Committee on Public
Education
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB3167 by Lewis, Ron (Relating to the State Board for
Educator Certification.), Committee Report 1st House,
Substituted
**************************************************************************
* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB3167, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: negative impact *
* of $(1,587,000) 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. *
* *
* *
**************************************************************************
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $(529,000) *
* 2003 (1,058,000) *
* 2004 (1,587,000) *
* 2005 (2,116,000) *
* 2006 (2,645,000) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
*****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from *
* Foundation School Fund *
* 0193 *
* 2002 $(529,000) *
* 2003 (1,058,000) *
* 2004 (1,587,000) *
* 2005 (2,116,000) *
* 2006 (2,645,000) *
*****************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill removes a current requirement that educational aides be
certified in order to be employed by school districts and to receive
tuition and fee exemptions for course work taken to obtain teacher
certification.
The bill as substituted would add provisions relating to administrative
hearings by local boards of trustees concerning ethics violations.
Methodology
The Certified Educational Aides Tuition Exemption Program is funded
through a transfer from the Foundation School Program to the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The program waives college
tuition and mandatory fees for certain educational aides enrolled in
educator preparation programs.
The amount of the transfer is currently determined by appropriations
rider. Texas Education Agency rider 60 of the most recent Appropriations
Act provided for an estimated transfer of $3,450,000 to the THECB for
the Tuition Exemption Program and two additional tuition and fee
exemption programs. Of this amount, $1,600,000 was transferred
specifically for the Tuition Exemption Program amended by this bill.
Under this bill, the currently eligible population would be expanded to
include individuals who are not certified as educational aides but meet
all other eligibility requirements. The THECB projects that
approximately 1,000 new educational aides would apply for and receive
tuition and fee waivers under the Tuition Exemption Program as a result
of this bill. Assuming an annual per student cost of $529, it is
estimated that expanding the eligible population to include all
educational aides, but still based on financial need, would cost the
state General Revenue Fund approximately $529,000 in fiscal year 2002
and $1,058,000 in fiscal year 2003; with increasing amounts for each
years thereafter.
Local Government Impact
The bill, as substituted, would require local boards of trustees to hold
administrative hearings concerning ethics violations. Local boards
would be authorized to combine the hearing with any other hearing held
concerning the same incident.
To the extent that a hearing concerning an alleged ethics violation could
be combined with another hearing, costs would be minimized. However, it
appears that this would not be likely in a majority of cases. Based on
current data, a conservative estimate of 150 complaints could be
expected to result in 100 local hearings annually. While local costs
for hearings would vary widely depending upon the length of the hearing
and other local circumstances, the average cost of a hearing is
estimated to range from $12,000 to $15,000. Assuming about 100 hearings
(two-thirds of the 150 hearings per year) would not be combined with
other hearings, additional local costs would be anticipated to range
from $1.2 to $1.5 million annually.
Source Agencies: 701 Texas Education Agency, 705 State Board for
Educator Certification, 781 Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board
LBB Staff: JK, CT, RN