| TO: | Honorable Kent Grusendorf, Chair, House Committee on Public Education |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB22 by Corte (Relating to the development and implementation of school district indoor air quality programs.), As Introduced |
The bill requires districts to develop and implement an indoor air quality program at every district facility used primarily for the instruction of students. A district would be required to appoint a coordinator to manage the program, and would be required to provide adequate support staff to assist the coordinator.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) estimates that the average start-up cost of an air quality program for a district would be $10,000 in the first year of the program. This estimate is based on expenditures of districts with air quality programs in place. It is assumed that there are 1,000 districts that do not have air quality programs in place. Based on this assumption, the estimated total cost in the first year of this bill is $10,000,000. It is estimated that the average annual cost to maintain an air quality program would be $8,000 for each of the 1,058 school districts. Based on this assumption, the estimated ongoing annual total cost would be $8,464,000. If districts are allowed to combine the efforts through regional education service centers, the estimated total cost could be reduced.
For example, small and medium-sized districts would use the services of the regional education service centers. The average cost per region is estimated to be about $40,000 per year, with a one time start up cost of $2,000 per region. The first year cost would be $840,000 [($40,000 + $2,000) x 20]. It is assumed that larger districts (20,000 or more students) would choose to identify their own in-house employee or employees to oversee their programs. Based on costs experienced by Mesquite ISD, the estimated first year cost of the program for 46 large districts would be $1,702,000 ($37,000 x 46). For this example, the estimated overall total cost in the first year of this bill would be $2,542,000 ($840,000 + $1,702,000). The annual ongoing cost would be $40,000 for each of the 20 service centers plus $35,000 for each of the 46 large-sized school districts. The estimated ongoing total cost would be $2,410,000 [($40,000 x 20) + ($35,000 x 46)].
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
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| LBB Staff: | JK, CT, PQ, UP
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