Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2266 by West (Relating to an application for a charter for an open-enrollment charter school and to the expansion of an open-enrollment charter school.), As Introduced
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB2266, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($304,442) 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
($155,221)
2021
($149,221)
2022
($149,221)
2023
($149,221)
2024
($149,221)
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2019
2020
($155,221)
1.5
2021
($149,221)
1.5
2022
($149,221)
1.5
2023
($149,221)
1.5
2024
($149,221)
1.5
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would provide the Commissioner of Education the authority to consider and deny a charter school application on the basis of the geographical area to be served by the proposed open-enrollment charter school if the geographical area includes the attendance zone of a school district campus that meets certain criteria.
The bill would take effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each chamber; otherwise, it would take effect September 1, 2017.
Methodology
According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), additional staff would be needed to conduct the requisite evaluation of charter expansion amendments. The agency receives an average of 300 expansion requests during a charter amendment cycle. TEA would be required to collect additional data from school districts to determine the capacity of campuses that are affected by the legislation. This analysis assumes that 1.5 FTEs would be required to conduct this analysis. The cost of these positions would total $300,643 in the 2020-2021 biennium.
TEA would also require funding for spatial data analysis software that would be used to conduct the analysis. This analysis assumes that the cost of the required software licenses would be $1,900 per fiscal year.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to school districts or charter schools is anticipated.