| TO: | Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2238 by Eissler (Relating to the establishment of the Texas Education Data System (TEDS) and certain public school reporting requirements.), As Engrossed |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($5,178,495) |
| 2009 | ($15,016,152) |
| 2010 | ($34,012,921) |
| 2011 | ($31,532,921) |
| 2012 | ($14,376,521) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Savings/(Cost) from GENERAL REVENUE FUND 1 |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($5,178,495) |
| 2009 | ($15,016,152) |
| 2010 | ($34,012,921) |
| 2011 | ($31,532,921) |
| 2012 | ($14,376,521) |
| Fiscal Year | Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2007 |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 4.0 |
| 2009 | 18.0 |
| 2010 | 22.0 |
| 2011 | 22.0 |
| 2012 | 22.0 |
The bill would make substantive revisions to the information management systems for public and higher education.
The bill would direct the commissioners of education and higher education to establish a board to design, develop, oversee and monitor the implementation of an electronic public and higher education data storage system (TEDS). The board would be comprised of 15 members, co-chaired by the commissioners of education and higher education.
The new system would encompass the systems and data currently managed by the Texas Education Agency, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, and the State Board for Educator Certification. All higher education institutions and agencies of education would be required to participate in the system. The bill would require that the system be capable of generating student achievement, curricular, instructional, managerial, and educational policy data. The bill would also require capability for the connection of data elements among all involved state agencies and institutions as well as other state and federal data systems. The system would be required to include analytical tools to allow educators, policy makers, and researchers to evaluate student achievement, programs, and operational efficiencies.
The board would be directed to consider using the TexasOnline project to administer the system, and would have the authority to issue requests for proposals and award contracts.
The Department of Information resources would be directed to assist the board with the design, coordination, implementation and management of projects for the system.
The bill would require the system to be complete by September 1, 2011.
The bill would also require the board to contract with one or more established centers for education research to develop recommendations for establishing indicators for identifying students likely to drop out of school, and to contract with one or more organizations with well-established peer-review processes to develop recommendations for using the system to measure student improvement in assessment instruments.
The bill would require the board to release annual reports on the data elements and parameters used in the system, and biennial reports to the legislature on potential system improvements.
State costs associated with the bill would be incurred by both the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Costs described below are for the full scope of the project; administrative costs limited to the two affected agencies are described separately.
It is assumed that development of the TED system would be contracted. Contract costs associated with the system described by the bill are estimated by the Texas Education Agency to be $2 million in FY 2008, $3 million in FY 2009 increasing to $27 million in FY 2010 and FY 2011. This contract would include costs for requirements gathering, system design and integration, technology frameworks, data definitions, data quality, selection of an analytical tool and data element mapping, and testing and verification. Costs associated with contract services for the RFP for a vendor are estimated to be $324,000 in FY 2008 and in FY 2009.
The bill's requirement for education research centers to develop particular indicators and measurement tools is estimated to cost $750,000 per study; it is assumed that the study for the measure of student improvement would be paid from funds currently budgeted by the agency for such a purpose.
Hardware costs associated with the system are estimated by TEA to be $1 million in FY 2008 and $8 million in FY 2009. Network and contract services are estimated to be an additional $700,000 in FY 2008 and $1 million in FY 2009.
TEA estimates that the costs associated with integrating the student performance measurement models and drop-out identification models with the required analytical tool and generating reports would be $1 million in FY 2009 increasing to $4 million in FY 2010.
For the Texas Education Agency, administrative, board travel and reimbursement, and service contract costs are estimated to be $400,000 in FY 2008, increasing to $900,000 in FY 2009.
HECB estimates that they would incur no additional administrative costs in FY 2008, but starting in FY 2009 would require an estimated $830,364 in order to address internal data requirements associated with the bill.
Local school district data systems would need to be modified to meet the data element and connectivity requirements and to interface with the new system. The Texas Education Agency estimates that these changes would cost an estimated $45,000 per school district, or $55.5 million statewide. Certain additional reporting requirements would also drive increased local cost.
Regional Education Service Centers would likely increase staffing in order to assist local school districts with system requirements.
| Source Agencies: | 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 313 Department of Information Resources, 701 Central Education Agency
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, JSp, UP
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