Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB515 by VanDeaver (Relating to assessment of public school students and providing accelerated instruction and eliminating performance requirements based on performance on certain assessment instruments.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB515, Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted: a positive impact of $6,818,570 through the biennium ending August 31, 2019.
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
2018
$3,245,023
2019
$3,573,547
2020
$3,573,547
2021
$3,573,547
2022
$3,573,547
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from Foundation School Fund 193
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2018
$3,595,023
($350,000)
2019
$3,573,547
$0
2020
$3,573,547
$0
2021
$3,573,547
$0
2022
$3,573,547
$0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) to review the alignment and coursework included in the required social studies curriculum provided to students in grades 8 through 12 to ensure all students graduating have a sufficient understanding of certain topics; develop recommendations to realign coursework and curriculum if necessary upon completion of the review; and submit a report on the review to certain entities by September 1, 2018.
The bill would remove the requirement for the State Board of Education (SBOE) to establish a rule related to the release of the materials question and answer keys for certain assessments. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) maintain and administer the exit-level TAKS assessment after September 1, 2017 and would instead require satisfactory performance on the SAT, ACT, or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) assessment for high school graduation. In addition, the bill would eliminate the requirement that the agency adopt optional college readiness assessments in Algebra II and English II.
The bill would take effect immediately if passed with necessary voting margins, or September 1, 2017, and would apply beginning school year 2017-18.
Methodology
Eliminating certain assessments and retesting requirements would result in a savings of approximately $3.6 million in each fiscal year. Based on information provided by TEA, the estimated savings of eliminating tests would be $2.0 million per year for the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) assessment; $280,000 in each fiscal year associated with eliminating the Algebra II optional assessment; and $1.3 million in each fiscal year associated with eliminating the English II optional assessment. This analysis assumes savings based on the per assessment costs of the current state assessment contract.
However, this savings would be offset in fiscal year 2018 by the cost of the State Board of Education (SBOE) review of the alignment and coursework of certain social studies curriculum and required report. TEA estimates initial development costs to convene committees to review the alignment and coursework of certain social studies curriculum would total $100,000 in fiscal year 2018, with additional costs of $250,000 related to development of the required report.
Local Government Impact
School districts and charter schools would experience varying savings from administering a reduced number of assessments and testing days. Districts and charters may incur some costs associated with calendar changes that would be required if testing days need to be removed from district calendars; however, these costs are not expected to be significant.