TO:	Honorable Jimmie Don Aycock, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB2836 by Ratliff (Relating to the requirements for and use of certain state-administered assessment instruments administered to public school students.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2014	$4,740,000
2015	$4,830,000
2016	$4,830,000
2017	$4,830,000
2018	$4,830,000

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would require each assessment instrument to be determined to be valid and reliable on the basis of empirical evidence by an entity that is independent of the test developer and the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

The bill would eliminate the writing assessment in grade seven and the social studies assessment in grade eight.

The bill would require assessment instruments to be designed to primarily assess the essential knowledge and skills identified by the State Board of Education of the subject and for the grade level for which the assessment instrument is administered.

The bill would require assessments in grades three through five to be designed such that 85 percent of students complete the assessment within 120 minutes; assessments in grades six through eight shall be designed such that 85 percent of students complete the assessment within 180 minutes; and the maximum time allowed for an assessment is eight hours, to be completed in one calendar day.

Methodology

Based on information provided by TEA, the savings estimated from the elimination of the assessments would be $4.9 million, including $3.6 million to eliminate the grade 7 writing assessment and $1.3 million to eliminate the grade 8 social studies assessment.

Based on information provided by TEA, it would cost $20,000 per fiscal year to contract with an entity to review the assessment instruments to determine whether they are established empirically to be valid and reliable.

The requirement that assessments should fit within certain time limits would require a study in fiscal year 2014 at an estimated cost of $90,000. Based on the results of the study, there could be additional costs to redevelop certain assessments in fiscal years 2015 and beyond to modify the identified assessments to fit within the prescribed time limits.

Local Government Impact

School districts and open-enrollment charter schools would no longer be required to proctor the writing assessments in grade seven and the social studies assessment in grade eight.