TO:	Honorable Brad Buckley, Chair, House Committee on Public Education

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	HB83 by Zwiener (Relating to authorizing the use of a writing portfolio assessment to assess writing performance for public school students.), As Introduced

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB83, As Introduced : a negative impact of ($1,510,054) through the biennium ending August 31, 2025.

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
2024	($177,165)
2025	($1,332,889)
2026	($2,490,089)
2027	($3,647,289)
2028	($3,647,289)

Fiscal Year	Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1	Change in Number of State Employees from FY 2023
2024	($177,165)	1.0
2025	($1,332,889)	1.0
2026	($2,490,089)	1.0
2027	($3,647,289)	1.0
2028	($3,647,289)	1.0

The bill would allow school districts to elect to use a writing portfolio assessment as an alternative to administering certain portions of assessment instruments.

The bill would require school districts electing to use a writing portfolio assessment to design the assessment in consultation with an institution of higher education.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) would approve assessments if the agency determines that they meet certain criteria. The bill would allow districts to coordinate with regional education service centers (ESC) for grading the assessments.

This analysis assumes that implementation of the bill would require 1.0 full-time-equivalent (FTE) position to coordinate calibration studies, rulemaking, and approval of district assessments at a total cost of $0.1 million per fiscal year, including salary, benefits, and other operating expenses.

While district demand is unknown, this analysis assumes that fiscal year 2024 would be a development year, and that 10.0 percent of districts would choose to develop and administer an alternative writing portfolio assessment in fiscal year 2025. This analysis assumes that district adoption would increase to 20.0 percent in fiscal year 2026 and would stabilize at 30.0 percent beginning in fiscal year 2027.

TEA also indicates that implementation of the bill would require the agency to contract for research studies on calibration and comparability to ensure reliable, valid statewide assessment results. This analysis assumes that the cost of these assessments would increase as the number of participating districts increases, at a cost of $1.2 million in fiscal year 2025, $2.3 in fiscal year 2026, increasing to $3.5 million by fiscal year 2028.

This analysis assumes that costs to institutions of higher education could be absorbed with existing resources.

TEA estimates that provisions of the bill would have a minor impact on technology, with a total cost of $4,551 for coding updates to the Texas Records Exchange (TREx) system. TEA also indicates that implementation of the bill would require $54,000 per fiscal year for hosting a secure website for writing portfolio assessments.

This analysis assumes that districts who choose to provide an alternative writing portfolio assessment would incur costs that could be significant, including development of assessments with institutions of higher education, training, and grading.

Provisions of the bill allow districts to collaborate with ESCs for grading of writing portfolio assessments. TEA estimates that the per teacher cost of scoring committees at the ESCs would be approximately $1400, inclusive of travel costs.

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 88TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


April 20, 2023