Honorable Jimmie Don Aycock, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3815 by Bohac (Relating to instruction in positive character traits in public schools.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to integrate positive character traits into the Texas essential knowledge and skills (TEKS) for kindergarten through grade 12.
The bill would require each school district and open-enrollment charter school to adopt a character education program that included the specified character traits. The district or charter school would be required to submit the adopted program to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) annually, in a manner determined by the commissioner.
The bill would require the TEA to use a center for education research and district-reported data to annually designate a Character Plus School (CPS) that provided a character program that demonstrated a correlation between the adopted character education program and an increase in student attendance and a decrease in student disciplinary problems.
The bill would not allow for the acceptance of federal funds to assist with implementing character education programs.
The agency estimates there would be a minimal cost associated with implementing the provisions of the bill.
Local Government Impact
Districts or charters schools that do not currently implement character education programs could incur administrative costs. Additionally, districts and charter schools could incur administrative costs related to the annual submission of the program to TEA.