Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB1786, As Introduced: a negative impact of ($26,754,063) through the biennium ending August 31, 2027.

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
2026	($13,353,181)
2027	($13,400,882)
2028	($11,529,686)
2029	($9,687,426)
2030	($7,873,738)

Fiscal Year	Probable (Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2026	($13,353,181)
2027	($13,400,882)
2028	($11,529,686)
2029	($9,687,426)
2030	($7,873,738)

The bill would expand student eligibility for the Financial Aid for Swift Transfer (FAST) program from only students who were educationally disadvantaged at any time during the four school years preceding enrollment in a dual credit course to include students who were educationally disadvantaged in the school year in which the student enrolls in the dual credit course. The bill would clarify for purposes of eligibility that a student be enrolled in a grade level from 9 through 12, rather than high school, in a school district or charter school. The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to make data related to the FAST program available to school districts and charter schools and would prescribe the accounting method for the FAST program at the institutions.

The bill would exempt the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) from certain rulemaking procedures to adopt rules necessary to align the community college funding formulas with appropriations or other legislative action and would authorize community colleges to receive formula funding for student transfers to private or independent four-year institutions of higher education.

The estimated costs related to the changes to student eligibility for the FAST program cannot be determined due to a lack of data on the number of students to whom these provisions of the bill would apply.

THECB estimated the number of student transfers to private or independent four-year institutions of higher education that would receive community college formula funding by using a forecast model based on historical actual certified data from 2018 to 2024 and assuming the fiscal year 2025 funding weights and rates remain constant through fiscal year 2030. The forecasted weighted transfer outcomes are estimated to be 3,815 in fiscal year 2026 and 3,829 in fiscal year 2027 followed by an expected downward trend through fiscal year 2030. The total number of such weighted student transfer outcomes multiplied by the fiscal year 2025 transfer outcome funding rate of $3,500 would result in an estimated cost of $13,353,181 in fiscal year 2026 and $13,400,882 in fiscal year 2027.

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 89TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION


March 26, 2025

TO:	Honorable Brandon Creighton, Chair, Senate Committee on Education K-16

FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:	SB1786 by Creighton (Relating to public higher education.), As Introduced