80(R) HB 2126 - Introduced version

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


April 3, 2007

TO:	Honorable Rob Eissler, Chair, House Committee on Public Education

FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	HB2126 by Murphy (Relating to the information collected through the Public Education Information Management System.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2126, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($1,428,968) through the biennium ending August 31, 2009.

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
2008	($1,139,484)
2009	($289,484)
2010	($289,484)
2011	($289,484)
2012	($289,484)

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1	Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2007
2008	($1,139,484)	2.0
2009	($289,484)	2.0
2010	($289,484)	2.0
2011	($289,484)	2.0
2012	($289,484)	2.0

This bill would require the collection of additional student and teacher information through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS).

Section 1 of the bill would amend Section 42.006(d), Education Code, to expand student and teacher information collected in PEIMS. Student transcript information would include the courses taken and grades received, the identification number of the teacher for each of the student’s major classes or courses, scores on national assessment instruments, disciplinary warnings or actions, and participation in magnet school programs in which admission was based on criteria other than date of application or selection by lottery.

Additional teacher information that would be collected would include the type of certification, name of the educator preparation program, major field of postsecondary study, courses completed and grades received, the number of semester credits, years of teaching experience by grade level or course, and occupation and years of experience in an occupation other than teaching. A teacher’s continuing education and professional development activities would also be collected. This information would include the number of instructional hours, type of instruction, instructor’s name, name of entity providing the instruction, and date instruction completed.

Section 2 of the bill would require the commissioner of education to adopt rules by December 31, 2007 to require school districts and educator preparation programs, including alternative education programs to submit additional student and teacher information through PEIMS. School districts would be required to provide information linking individual students to individual teachers beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, if the data is available electronically, or by the 2007-2008 school year.

This bill would take effect immediately upon passage of the necessary voting margins or September 1, 2007.

A PEIMS feasibility study was conducted in 2004 concering the costs of linking student and teacher data. Texas Education Agency (TEA) costs to link student and teacher data would be an estimated $200,000 to amend the vendor contract to update PEIMS. Costs for TEA to collect additional data are estimated at $800,000. This includes extracting certification data from the existing State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) database to lower costs for TEA and school districts. The total cost for TEA software changes to accommodate new data collections is estimated to be $1 million in FY2008 with $160,000 in maintenance costs each year thereafter.

Two new full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members would be required to assist school districts and regional education service centers with the new data collections and analyze the linked student and teacher data and other data elements as part of required data verification and quality efforts. The agency estimates that the salary, benefits and other costs associated with these FTEs would be $139,484 in FY2008, and $129,484 in FY2009 and each year thereafter.

The total cost for TEA software changes to accommodate new data collections is estimated to be $1 million in FY2008 and $160,000 in maintenance costs each year thereafter.

Local Government Impact

The agency estimates the cost for school districts to modify local data systems to comply with the provisions of the bill would be $78.8 million statewide or approximately $65,000 per school district in one-time costs. Costs include those related to the following new or substantially modified data collection areas: student course grade data, teacher identification by course, results from national assessments instruments, student disciplinary warnings, student participation in magnet programs, number of years of teaching experience in specified grade levels or courses, teacher’s experience in occupations other than teaching and number of years of occupational experience, and information regarding the teacher's continuing education and professional development activities.

It is likely school districts would be required to hire additional staff to assist with the new data collections depending on the size of the district and local software application requirements.