Honorable Dan Huberty, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3906 by Huberty (Relating to the adoption and administration of assessment instruments used to assess the performance of public school students.), As Introduced
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB3906, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($56,400,858) through the biennium ending August 31, 2021.
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
2020
($29,204,429)
2021
($27,196,429)
2022
($27,196,429)
2023
($27,196,429)
2024
($27,196,429)
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2019
2020
($29,204,429)
2.0
2021
($27,196,429)
2.0
2022
($27,196,429)
2.0
2023
($27,196,429)
2.0
2024
($27,196,429)
2.0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would require a language arts assessment for public school students annually in grades three through eight. This assessment would include both reading and writing. Under current law, a reading assessment is required annually in grades three through eight, while a writing assessment is required in grades four and seven. The bill would allow the Commissioner of Education to designate sections of mathematics assessment in grades three through eight that may be completed with the aid of technology.
For assessment instruments administered to students in grade three through five, 85 percent of students would have to be able to complete all assessment instruments for that grade within an aggregate period equal to the number of assessment instruments for that grade multiplied by 120 minutes. For assessment instruments administered to students in grade six through eight, 85 percent of students would have to be able to all assessment instruments for that grade within an aggregate period equal to the number of assessment instruments for that grade multiplied by 180 minutes. The bill would also allow administration of assessment instruments to occur in multiple parts over more than one day, with certain exceptions.
The bill would apply beginning with the 2019-2020 school year. The bill would take immediate effect if it receives a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature. Otherwise, the bill would take effect September 1, 2019.
Methodology
According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the cost to assess writing as part of a language arts assessment in grades three, five, six, and eight would total $5.0 million for each grade. The additional cost for Spanish assessments in grades three and five would be $1.0 million in each grade. These costs would recur each fiscal year.
The bill would require TEA to develop shorter assessments that could be administered over multiple days. In order to facilitate this implementation, TEA would need to develop additional items in order to provide districts with multiple opportunities to administer shorter assessments. According to the agency, this would require require $4.0 million in fiscal year 2020 and $2.0 million in subsequent fiscal years for item development. The agency reports that it would also require $1 million for test construction related to the new test design of multiple shorter assessments and $2 million annually for operational administration of the larger number of shorter assessments. These costs would in part be attributable to the need to develop more questions tied to each standard to enable more administrations of shorter tests. More versions of each assessment would have to be developed, in order to ensure security of questions and answers on tests administered on different days.
Finally, this analysis assumes that 2.0 FTEs would be required to oversee development and administration of additional writing portions of the assessments. Costs associated with these FTEs, including salary and benefits, would total $400,858 for the 2020-21 biennium.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to school districts or charter schools is anticipated.