LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 8, 2013

TO:	Honorable Jimmie Don Aycock, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB2076 by Flynn (Relating to alternative assessment of certain public school students under the public school accountability system.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2076, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($4,680,000) 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.

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2014	($2,340,000)
2015	($2,340,000)
2016	($2,340,000)
2017	($2,340,000)
2018	($2,340,000)

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2014	($2,340,000)
2015	($2,340,000)
2016	($2,340,000)
2017	($2,340,000)
2018	($2,340,000)

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to develop and implement an alternative assessment system for students in grade levels 3 through 8. The alternative assessment system would be used to assess a student's progress over the course of a school year and would be administered to students at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year. The bill would require the performance of a school district participating in the alternative system to be determined on the basis of students' progress during the school year.

Methodology

Based on information provided by TEA and assuming that districts serving 10 percent of the students in the affected grades applied to participate in the alternative assessment system, the estimated cost to develop and implement an alternative assessment system for students in grade levels 3 through 8 would be $2.3 million per fiscal year. TEA indicated that this estimate assumed that the same form of the test administered in the spring could be used in the fall administration for school districts under the alternative assessment system.

The bill does not limit participation in the alternative assessment system, and to the extent that more districts participate, costs would increase, to an estimated maximum of about $23 million per year, based on an average cost of $7 per student per assessment.

Local Government Impact

School districts participating in the alternative assessment system would incur additional administrative costs, although this would be voluntary and these costs would vary.

Source Agencies:

701 Central Education Agency

LBB Staff:

UP, JBi, JSc, AH