| TO: | Honorable Rob Eissler, Chair, House Committee on Public Education |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB3419 by Eissler (Relating to public school instructional materials.), As Introduced |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2008 | ($300,000) |
| 2009 | ($537,300) |
| 2010 | ($35,450,000) |
| 2011 | ($42,537,300) |
| 2012 | ($25,450,000) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Savings/(Cost) from FOUNDATION SCHOOL FUND 193 |
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | ($300,000) | 4.0 |
| 2009 | ($537,300) | 6.0 |
| 2010 | ($35,450,000) | 6.0 |
| 2011 | ($42,537,300) | 6.0 |
| 2012 | ($25,450,000) | 6.0 |
The bill would create an annual instructional materials allotment, providing $75 per student or a greater amount by appropriation, to be deposited into an instructional materials account for each district. The allotment would start in FY2010.
The SBOE would be required to adopt all instructional materials for each subject and grade level which were free from factual errors. The SBOE would be required to determine the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) alignment, each TEKS element for the subject and grade level, and the degree to which the instructional materials cover each element in the TEKS for each state-adopted instructional material. This would replace the current law adoption of conforming and non-conforming lists.
The bill would allow for instructional materials to be reviewed and adopted outside of the normal cycle at least once every two years or another time selected by the SBOE.
The instructional materials allotment could be used only to purchase state-adopted instructional materials. The commissioner would pay for instructional materials from the district or open-enrollment charter school account. The State Board of Education (SBOE) would have to consider average costs of the adopted instructional materials that would be adopted over a two-year period to ensure that the allotment amount would be sufficient.
The bill would require that proceeds from the sale of instructional materials be credited to the selling district's instructional materials account. Unless otherwise noted, the bill's provisions would take effect on September 1, 2007.
Note: The bill would direct allocations to be made to the Instructional Materials Fund from the Available School Fund (ASF). However, because the ASF serves as a method of financing for the Foundation School Program (FSP), increased allocations from ASF create an increased demand for Foundation School Funds in the FSP. For this reason, costs associated with the provisions of the bill are shown as costs to the Foundation School Fund.
The instructional materials allotment, at $75 per student for a projected 4.8 million students, is estimated to cost $360 million in FY2010. Costs are estimated to increase by approximately $7-8 million each year thereafter, assuming an average enrollment growth of 2 percent annually. However, this allotment would replace the current law biennial appropriation to the Textbook Fund for the purchase of textbooks and continuing contracts. Based on average appropriations for textbooks over the last three biennia, and factoring in the projected expense of instructional materials scheduled for adoption, it is assumed for the purposes of this fiscal note that textbook appropriations under current law would be approximately $325 million each year of the 2010-11 biennium, increasing to $350 million in each year of the 2012-13 biennium. Thus the net increase in instructional materials costs due to the bill is estimated to be $35 million in FY2010, $42 million in FY2011, decreasing to $25 million in FY2012.
The Texas Education Agency would be required to create and maintain instructional materials accounts for each district in the state. The agency also would incur additional administrative costs related to the requirement to review and adopt instructional materials outside of the normal cycle at least once every two years. Finally, the agency estimates that the change to the SBOE's adoption from conforming/non-conforming to general adoption would increase the volume of materials submitted for review. It is estimated that the agency would require 4 additional full-time equivalents (FTEs) in FY2008 to meet these needs, at a cost of $300,000, increasing to 6 FTEs and $450,000 each year therafter. Additionally, the agency estimates that the cost of instructional materials review panelists, including travel expenses, lodging, meals, and other incidental expenses would cost approximately $87,300 every two years, starting in FY2009.
The bill would require the creation of additional databases at the agency related to the creation and maintenance of instructional materials accounts for each district. However, the bill does not appear to alter the current process of ordering instructional materials in any substantive ways; therefore, no signifcant fiscal impact to the agency's technology costs are anticipated.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
|
| LBB Staff: | JOB, JSp, UP, JGM
|