The bill would eliminate the Minimum, Recommended, and Advanced High School graduation programs, and would create the Foundation High School Program. The bill would create endorsements on a student's diploma and transcript if the student completes certain courses. The endorsements would include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; business and industry; public services; arts and humanities; and multidisciplinary studies. The bill would require four credits in mathematics to earn any endorsement and would require each student to identify an endorsement the student intends to earn upon entering the ninth grade.

The bill would require the Commissioner of Education to develop a transition plan to implement the bill with respect to replacing the Minimum, Recommended, and Advanced High School graduation programs with the Foundation High School Program beginning with the 2014-15 school year.

The bill would require the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to redevelop assessment instruments administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities in alignment with federal law.

The bill would limit end-of-course assessments to Algebra I, Biology, English I, English II, and United States History. The bill would require the English I and II end-of-course assessments to assess both reading and writing in the same assessment. The bill would eliminate the requirement that a student's performance on an end-of-course assessment shall account for 15 percent of the student's final grade for the course.

The bill would require TEA to administer post-secondary readiness assessment instruments for Algebra II and English III at a district's option.

The bill would require the release of questions and answer keys to certain assessment instruments in fiscal years 2014-2017.

The bill would modify the terms of payment for the Instructional Materials Allotment.

The bill would exclude a student who is reported as a dropout, reenrolls, and drops out again in computing dropout and completion rates.

The bill would require TEA to develop and maintain an internet website known as the Texas School Accountability Dashboard which would provide performance indexes on certain criteria for each campus.

The bill would require TEA, in collaboration with the HECB and the Texas Workforce Commission, to evaluate, through an external evaluator, the implementation of the changes to the curriculum requirements for high school graduation that would be required by this bill.

The bill would reduce the number of end-of-course assessments from 15 to 5.

Reducing the number of end-of-course assessments would result in savings of $8.7 million annually.

The estimated savings for eliminating the Geometry, Chemistry, Physics, World Geography, and World History end-of-course assessments would be $1.15 million per fiscal year, per end-of-course assessment. The estimated savings of combining the reading and writing end-of-course assessments into one assessment each for English I, English II, would be $0.9 million annually.

This analysis assumes that the July and December administrations of the Algebra II and English III assessments would be eliminated. The estimated savings from eliminating the July and December administrations of the Algebra II assessment would be $300,000 per fiscal year, and the estimated savings from eliminating the July and December administrations of the English III assessment would be $1.7 million annually.

Based on information provided by TEA, the modification to PEIMS to collect information required by the bill would cost $87,050 in fiscal year 2014.

Based on information provided by TEA, changes would be required to the educational materials system related to the modified terms of payment from the Instructional Materials Allotment at an estimated cost of $5,000 in fiscal year 2014.

Based on information provided by TEA, the cost to redevelop assessment instruments administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities would be $550,000 in fiscal year 2014 and $550,000 in fiscal year 2015.

This analysis assumes the cost to release the questions and answer keys to certain assessment instruments would be $2.4 million in fiscal year 2015, fiscal year 2016, and fiscal year 2017.

Based on information provided by TEA, one FTE would be required to calculate the non-cohort based graduation rate required by the modification to the calculation of completion and dropout rates. The estimated cost of this FTE, including salary, benefits, and other operating expenses, would be $95,471 in fiscal year 2014 and $87,471 in subsequent years.

Based on information provided by TEA, one FTE would be required to develop and maintain the Texas School Accountability Dashboard. The estimated cost of this FTE, including salary, benefits, and other operating expenses, would be $112,161 in fiscal year 2014 and $104,161 in subsequent years.

Based on information provided by TEA, the estimated cost to study the implementation of the changes to the curriculum requirements for high school graduation required by this bill would be $0.3 million in fiscal year 2016 and $0.2 million in fiscal year 2018.

To the extent that as a result of the bill, students will take additional developmental education classes at public institutions of higher education, there could be formula funding costs beginning in fiscal year 2016. The institutions may also realize additional tuition revenue tied to these students. 

The bill would create a Class B misdemeanor. A Class B misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, or both. Costs associated with enforcement, prosecution, and confinement could likely be absorbed within existing resources. Revenue from fines imposed and collected is not anticipated to have a significant fiscal impact.

A school district might experience savings from the reduced number of end-of-course assessments, although a district might incur some additional costs related to implementing the provisions of the bill.