Honorable Dan Huberty, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1918 by Guillen (Relating to providing grants for professional development training for certain public school teachers.), As Introduced
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1918, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($8,697,824) 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
($4,352,912)
2019
($4,344,912)
2020
($4,344,912)
2021
($4,344,912)
2022
($4,344,912)
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2017
2018
($4,352,912)
1.0
2019
($4,344,912)
1.0
2020
($4,344,912)
1.0
2021
($4,344,912)
1.0
2022
($4,344,912)
1.0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Education Code to establish a grant program for certain professional development courses for prekindergarten to grade 12 classroom teachers who are in the first year of teaching, in a subject for which the teacher does not possess a bachelor's degree with an academic major or minor in that subject, or at a campus assigned an overall performance rating of a D or F under Section 39.054.
The bill would require the Commissioner to make grants available to authorized institutions of higher education to pay the tuition and any required fees for eligible teachers who enroll and to provide online professional development courses from funds appropriated for that purpose. The bill would require eligible professional development courses to meet certain requirements. The bill would require the Commissioner to distribute grant money to authorized providers based on the date each individual request is received. The bill would allow the Commissioner to audit authorized institutions of higher education to ensure compliance with the grant program. The bill would allow the Commissioner and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to adopt rules necessary to implement and administer the grant program.
The bill would take effect immediately if passed within the necessary voting margins, or September 1, 2017.
Methodology
Providing grants to eligible institutions of higher education for professional development courses to teachers specified in the bill would result in a cost of approximately $4.4 million in fiscal year 2018 and $4.3 million in each subsequent year.
Based on information provided by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), approximately 500 teachers would be eligible to participate based on the provisions of the bill. TEA estimates the expected cost for the professional development and certification for each participating teacher to be $7,500 for two semesters as required by the provisions of the bill.
TEA estimates the agency would award 10 grants to eligible institutions of education (IHEs) to provide the approved online professional development to eligible teachers. Based on information provided by the agency, grant awards would be provided to allow each IHE to provide professional development to 50 eligible teachers, with grant awards totaling $375,000 per IHE ($7,500 per teacher x 50 teachers). TEA estimates that each IHE would be allowed to apply for $50,000 related to administration of the grant program. The estimated annual cost of entire grant program would be $4.25 million (10 IHEs x $375,000 grants + $500,000 administrative costs to the IHEs).
This analysis estimates that one FTE would be required to assist with the development and implementation of the grant program. The estimated cost of the FTE, including salary, benefits, and other operating expenses, would be $102,912 in fiscal year 2018 and $94,912 in subsequent years.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.