LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 79TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 11, 2005

TO:	Honorable Kent Grusendorf, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB557 by Mowery (Relating to the number of administrators employed by a school district and the salaries paid to those persons.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

 The bill would prohibit a school district from employing a number of administrators that exceeds a ratio of one administrator per nine classroom teachers beginning with the 2009-10 school year.  For the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years, districts would be prohibited from employing more than one administrator per seven teachers.  For the 2008-09 school year, districts would be prohibited from employing more than 1 administrator per 8 teachers.  The bill would define an administrator to include all school district employees, other than classroom teachers or direct service providers, who hold at least a bachelor’s degree and earn an annual salary of more than $40,000.  Under the bill, direct service providers would include only librarians, nurses, and certified counselors who are assigned to a campus.

 

The bill would prohibit a school district from paying an administrator a salary that exceeds five times the lowest full-time teacher salary in the district.

 

It should be noted that under the definition of the bill, a number of staff roles that are not traditionally viewed as administrative, such as speech therapists and audiologists generally meet the criteria contained in the bill’s definition of an administrator.

Local Government Impact

Assuming the bill is interpreted to impose a limit based on a percentage-style calculation of the number of administrators as a proportion of classroom teachers, relatively few districts would be affected.  There would be two options to attain compliance.  A district that exceeds the applicable percentage could either add classroom teachers or reduce administrators.  The resulting local cost or savings would depend upon the local decision.

 

Data indicate that a relatively small number of positions in 18-19 percent of districts could be affected by the salary cap requirement contained in this bill.  In the majority of cases, only 1 to 2 positions per district appear to exceed the limit.  As above, a school district that is paying an administrator more than the limit allowed under this bill would have at least two options to address the situation.  The district could raise the determining teacher salaries, or the district could reduce affected administrative salaries.  There would be potential for costs or savings in affected districts depending upon the action taken.

Source Agencies:

701 Central Education Agency

LBB Staff:

JOB, CT, UP, JSc