LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 79TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 4, 2005

TO:	Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB117 by Van de Putte (Relating to the timely transfer of student information to a school district in which the student enrolls.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would reduce the timeframe for school districts to respond to student records requests from other school districts from 30 days to 15 days.  The bill also provides that parents requesting records transfer be notified of their ability to request and receive an unofficial copy of the records for delivery in person to the receiving district.

Local Government Impact

Based on PEIMS data, approximately 3.7 percent of the state’s enrollment transfers from one Texas public school district to another each school year.  For the 2003-2004 school year, this proportion represents about 160,000 students.  According to the agency, there is no comprehensive source of data concerning the actual number of record requests processed by districts or the average response time for such requests.

 

The reduction in response time proposed by the bill would produce no significant fiscal impact to local school districts on a statewide basis.  However, there may be some districts with a high volume of transfers or less automated student records that would realize a cost increase in order to meet the reduced response time requirement.  Additional costs would likely be related to additional staffing and/or records automation efforts.

 

The notification requirement would also have a varying impact across the state.  Assuming that districts implement this requirement in the most cost-effective manner by adding notification language to a records transfer request form, there would be no significant fiscal impact. 

Source Agencies:

701 Central Education Agency

LBB Staff:

JOB, CT, UP, KC