LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session May 3, 2001 TO: Honorable Paul Sadler, Chair, House Committee on Public Education FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: SB1727 by Cain (Relating to staff development provided by school districts.), As Engrossed ************************************************************************** * No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** Local Government Impact School districts would be required to provide staff development training related to instruction of students with disabilities, primarily those teachers who are not directly involved in special education programs. A variety of programs are currently offered which provide professional development related to students with disabilities. It is not clear whether or not these programs would meet the requirements of this bill. To the extent that programs would need to be redesigned, higher costs could be incurred that may be passed on teachers in the form of higher fees. For purposes of this fiscal note, estimated costs for salaries of trainers and materials are $75 per teacher. To provide the proposed training to all of the state's 246,500 non-special education teachers would cost approximately $18.5 million. As the bill does not specify a training schedule, it is anticipated that this cost would be spread out over several years. Additionally, the bill does not provide for additional teacher preparation days, therefore, implementation of the provisions of this bill may cause other professional development programs to be displaced. If other subjects are not provided, it could be argued that expenses related to that training would be decreased to somewhat offset the costs stated above. There would probably still be some added expenses to generate course materials and develop training. Source Agencies: 701 Texas Education Agency LBB Staff: JK, CT, RN