Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1153 by Menéndez (Relating to parental rights and information regarding certain intervention strategies used with public school students.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend Chapter 26 of the Education Code to entitle a parent to access records related to the parent's child about assistance for learning difficulties. This requirement would exclude children who are eligible for special education services. The bill would also require each school district to notify a parent of a child receiving assistance for learning difficulties about the nature of the assistance provided to the child. This requirement also would exclude children who are eligible for special education services. These provisions would apply to open-enrollment charter schools.
The bill would require school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to annually report to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) the total number of students to whom the district or charter provided services under Section 504 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The bill would also require school districts and charters to annually report the total number of students other than those covered by Section 504 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act with whom the district used intervention strategies.
According to TEA, any additional work resulting from the passage of the bill could be reasonably absorbed within current resources.
Local Government Impact
According to TEA, provisions associated with granting parents access to records and providing parents with notification of services provided to students may have some cost to local school districts and charter schools; however, these costs are not anticipated to be significant. Additionally, provisions in the bill requiring additional data reporting to TEA could result in some costs to local school districts. Costs associated with this requirement are likely to vary based on school district size and resources.