Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3348 by Clardy (Relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate degree programs.), As Passed 2nd House
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to establish a pilot project to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of authorizing baccalaureate degree programs in the field of dental hygiene at a public junior college that satisfies the criteria included in the provisions of the bill.
It is assumed that there would be a cost to General Revenue from increased formula funding to a public junior college that offered a baccalaureate degree program under the provisions of the bill due to additional students enrolling in the program generating additional contact hours. This cost would not be seen until at least fiscal year 2018, as formula funding is provided to institutions based on student data prior to the biennium to be funded. This analysis assumes the increase in formula funding would not be significant.
Based on information provided by THECB, duties and responsibilities associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be accomplished by utilizing existing resources.
Local Government Impact
Based on information provided by a sample of community colleges, the establishment of an additional baccalaureate degree program for an eligible community college under the provisions of the bill could result in a significant fiscal impact for that community college to cover start-up and operating costs. Such costs could include, but are not limited to, securing proper regional accreditation, upgrading facilities and libraries to accommodate upper division coursework, and costs associated with faculty salary and workload. This analysis assumes these costs would be paid for out of institutional funds, partially offset by any state appropriations from formula funding.
Source Agencies:
710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration