LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 11, 2007

TO:	Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1494 by Ellis (Relating to a notification requirement if a nurse is not assigned to a public school campus.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

This bill would amend Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Education Code, by adding Section 38.021 to require school districts to provide written notice to the parent or person(s) standing in parental relation to each student when a school does not have a full-time school nurse assigned to the campus for more than 30 consecutive instructional days.
 
The principal would be required to provide the notice no later than the 30th instructional day after the first day the campus does not have a full-time nurse assigned.  The school would be required to make a good faith effort to provide a bilingual notice to parents whose primary language is not English and to retain a copy of the notice.  
 
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2007, or immediately upon enactment by the necessary voting majorities and would apply beginning with the 2007-2009 school year.

Local Government Impact

It is assumed that the notification required under this bill would be sent home with students to defray the cost of notification the greatest extent possible.  Depending upon the circumstances of individual campuses required to provide notice under the bill's provisions, there could be significant variation in the costs incurred to produce the notice.  For example, higher costs would be anticipated for campuses where the requirement to provide bilingual notices might result in a notice being prepared in several different languages to accommodate the primary languages of parents.  The Texas Education Agency indicates that approximately 143 separate languages have been reported as the primary language of Texas public school students whose primary language is not English.  Although variation in expenses associated with notification would be expected among affected campuses, costs to produce the notice would not be anticipated to be significant on a statewide basis.

Source Agencies:

701 Central Education Agency

LBB Staff:

JOB, UP, JSp