Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB160 by Rodríguez (Relating to a prohibition of a monitoring system performance indicator based solely on the number or percentage of students receiving special education services.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to prohibit the Commissioner of Education or the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from adapting or implementing a performance indicator in any monitoring system, including the performance-based monitoring analysis system, that solely measures the number of enrolled students or the overall percentage of the total number of enrolled students who receive special education services. The bill would not prohibit or limit the Commissioner or agency from meeting the federal requirements to collect and examine data to determine whether significant disproportionality based on race or ethnicity is occurring with respect to the identification of, placement of, and disciplinary actions for students with disabilities; and to address disproportionate representation of racial and ethnic groups in special education and in specific disability categories resulting in inappropriate placement in the statewide plan. The bill would take effect immediately if passed within the necessary voting margins, or September 1, 2017.
TEA indicates it indicates that any costs associated with the bill could be absorbed within the agency's existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.