LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 84TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
May 4, 2015

TO:
Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
 
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB1497 by Taylor, Van (relating to educator misconduct and employment sanctions and a requirement that a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or shared services arrangement terminate or refuse to hire an employee or applicant convicted of certain offenses.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would require a school district, charter school, or shared services arrangement (SSA) to terminate or refuse to hire someone that had ever been convicted of certain offenses.

The Texas Education Agency would experience a significant increase in the number and level of detailed criminal history reviews it conducts. The agency estimates there would be a minimal cost associated with implementing the provisions of the bill.

Local Government Impact

School districts, charter schools, and SSAs would be required to perform additional criminal history checks on all employees and would be required to discharge any employees that had been convicted of certain offenses even if the employee had been younger than 18 or had satisfied court requirements over 30 years before 2007.
 
School districts, charter schools, and SSAs could not hire an applicant that had been convicted of certain offenses even if the employee had been younger than 18 or had satisfied court requirements over 30 years before 2007.
 
There would be administrative costs to conduct new criminal background checks on all employees and there would be administrative costs to replace any employees that had to be terminated. These costs would vary from district to district, charter school to charter school, and SSA to SSA depending on how many employees could no longer remain employed.


Source Agencies:
701 Central Education Agency
LBB Staff:
UP, JBi