LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
April 22, 2013

TO:
Honorable Dan Patrick, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
 
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB42 by Zaffirini (Relating to public school accountability for bilingual education and English as a second language and other special language programs.), As Introduced



Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB42, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($1,842,056) 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 ($808,072)
2015 ($1,033,984)
2016 ($1,009,984)
2017 ($1,244,241)
2018 ($1,224,241)




Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from
General Revenue Fund
1 		Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2009
2014 ($808,072) 9.0
2015 ($1,033,984) 12.0
2016 ($1,009,984) 12.0
2017 ($1,244,241) 14.5
2018 ($1,224,241) 14.5

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would require all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to collect and provide to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) certain information regarding limited English proficiency students and would require the TEA to evaluate the effectiveness of bilingual education or special language programs based on this information.

The bill would require each lead program monitor evaluating the effectiveness of these programs to be certified to teach English as a second language.

The bill would require TEA to intervene in a bilingual education or special language program if the agency determines the program is ineffective. The bill would require each campus, district, or open-enrollment charter school with an ineffective program to designate annual program improvement goals and require TEA to review the annual improvement of a program based on the annual program improvement goals set by the campus, district, or open-enrollment charter school.

The bill would require TEA to ensure that certain information related to a student classified as a student of limited English proficiency be collected through the Public Education Information Management System.


Methodology

It is estimated that the provisions of the bill would require 8.0 additional FTEs in the Performance Based Monitoring division of TEA at a cost of $731,443 in FY2014 and $667,443 in each subsequent year, inclusive of salary, benefits, and other expenses.

It is estimated that the provisions of bill would result in additional on-site monitoring visits, which would require 1.0 FTE in FY2014 at a cost of $76,629, 4.0 FTEs in FY2015 and FY2016 at a cost of $355,042 in FY2015 and $331,042 in FY2016, and 6.5 FTEs in FY2015 and FY2016 at a cost of $560,298 in FY2017 and $540,298 in FY2018.  All FTE costs are inclusive of salary, benefits, and other expenses. Travel expenses are estimated at $10,000 annually in FY2015 and FY2016 and $15,000 annually in FY2017 and FY2018.

Costs for training and certification of monitors to comply with the provisions of the bill are estimated at $1,500 per year beginning in FY2015.


Local Government Impact

School districts and open-enrollment charter schools might incur additional costs related to interventions if programs were found to be ineffective or related to corrective actions if the districts or schools failed to meet one or more annual improvement goals.



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