LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
May 19, 2013

TO:
Honorable Dan Patrick, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
 
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB2012 by Villarreal (Relating to collection, distribution, and use of information relating to salaries of and job openings for certain professional employees of school districts and to teaching and learning conditions in public schools.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted



Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2012, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($1,980,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2015.

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.



Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2014 ($1,400,000)
2015 ($580,000)
2016 ($280,000)
2017 ($580,000)
2018 ($280,000)




Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from
General Revenue Fund
1
2014 ($1,400,000)
2015 ($580,000)
2016 ($280,000)
2017 ($580,000)
2018 ($280,000)

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would allow school districts to submit notices of openings for classroom teacher positions and notices of teacher shortages for posting on the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website. The bill would require TEA to post open positions for classroom teachers, including relevant salary information, submitted by school districts. The TEA website would have to allow classroom teachers to access a clearinghouse of information on open positions in districts, including salary information and information on district or regional teacher shortages. 

The bill would require TEA, in collaboration with the Teacher Retirement System, to collect employee salary data from school districts through the Public Education Information Management System and provide information on the agency's website that indicates, by school district, the average salaries of classroom teachers by subject and grade level.

The bill would would require TEA to analyze the cost-of-living in each region of the state to determine if teacher salaries paid were comparable to salaries of comparable professionals in that region. The results of the analysis would be posted on the TEA Internet website and would be reported to members of the legislature by December 1, 2014. 

The bill would require the commissioner of education to develop an online teaching and learning conditions survey to be administered statewide at least biennially to school district employees who are required to hold a certificate. The bill would require the commissioner to contract with a third party to administer the survey. The commissioner would be required to make the survey results available to the public, school districts, and campuses after the administration of each survey. 


Methodology

TEA would be required to develop an online system to collect information on school district vacancies for classroom teachers and district teacher shortages. The system would allow districts to submit their data and would allow classroom teachers to search for vacancies, compare salaries, and view teacher shortage information. The estimated cost to develop this automated system is $1.4 million in FY 2014 and $280,000 annually for ongoing maintenance beginning in FY 2015. 
 
TEA would be required to analyze the cost of living in each region of the state to determine if teacher salaries were comparable to salaries of comparable professionals in that region, post the analysis results to its website, and provide the analysis results to members of the legislature. The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) currently conducts studies related to school employee salaries. The required data collection and analysis of salaries could be accomplished in coordination with TASB. No additional costs to the state are anticipated to complete this requirement.
 
The estimated cost to conduct a survey of teaching and learning conditions is $300,000 in FY 2015 and every other subsequent year.

Technology

TEA would be required to develop an automated online vacancy management system for classroom teachers at an estimated cost of $1.4 million in FY 2104 and $280,000 annually for maintenance beginning in FY 2015. The system would allow school districts to post information on classroom teacher vacancies, salaries, and teacher shortages. Classroom teachers would be able to search for vacancies, compare salaries, and view information on teacher shortages statewide.

Local Government Impact

The administrative costs to post classroom teacher vacancies and to participate in the survey are not anticipated to be significant.


Source Agencies:
701 Central Education Agency
LBB Staff:
UP, JBi, JSc, AH