| TO: | Honorable Dan Patrick, Chair, Senate Committee on Education |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB542 by Watson (Relating to alternative dispute resolution methods regarding educational services for students with disabilities, including individualized education program facilitation.), As Introduced |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2014 | $0 |
| 2015 | ($33,750,717) |
| 2016 | ($34,305,009) |
| 2017 | ($34,920,585) |
| 2018 | ($35,547,242) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1 |
|---|---|
| 2014 | $0 |
| 2015 | ($33,750,717) |
| 2016 | ($34,305,009) |
| 2017 | ($34,920,585) |
| 2018 | ($35,547,242) |
| Fiscal Year | Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2013 |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 0.0 |
| 2015 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 1.5 |
| 2017 | 1.5 |
| 2018 | 1.5 |
The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to provide information to parents regarding individualized education program facilitation as an alternative dispute resolution method that may be used to avoid a potential dispute between a school district and a parent of a student with a disability.
The bill would require TEA to administer the State Individualized Education Program Facilitation Project, which would include the provision of an independent individualized education program facilitator to facilitate an admission, review, and dismissal committee meeting with parties who have requested independent individualized education program facilitation because of a potential dispute about decisions relating to the provision of a free appropriate public education to a student with a disability. The bill would authorize the Commissioner of Education to authorize the use of federal funds to implement the State Individualized Education Program Facilitation Project if adequate federal funding is available.
The bill would apply beginning with the 2014-15 school year.
Based on information provided by TEA, 1.5 full-time equivalents would be required to implement the provisions of the bill. The salary related to these positions would total $66,068 per fiscal year, with related benefits costs of $19,649 per fiscal year, and other operating expenses of $28,000 in fiscal year 2015 and $12,000 in subsequent years.
TEA estimates the development of an online system to track individualized education program facilitations would cost $43,000 in fiscal year 2015 and $8,600 in subsequent years.
TEA reports that in fiscal year 2014, there will be approximately 440,000 students receiving special education services. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that the number of student receiving special education services will increase by 1.8 percent per fiscal year, and 10 percent of the student population would utilize facilitation at a cost of $750 per facilitator. Therefore, the cost of facilitation would be $33,594,000 in fiscal year 2015 and would increase to $35,440,925 in fiscal year 2018.
For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that all eligible federal funds are currently being used for other purposes; therefore General Revenue funds would be required to implement the provisions of the bill. To the extent that additional federal funds become available, General Revenue costs noted above could be reduced.
TEA estimates technology costs associated with the development of an online system to track individualized education program facilitations would require costs of $43,000 in fiscal year 2015 and $8,600 in subsequent years.
A school district may incur additional costs if they choose to offer individualized education program facilitation outside of the State Individualized Education Program Facilitation Project.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
|
| LBB Staff: | UP, JBi, JSc, AH, SD, JW
|