HBA-JLV S.B. 562 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 562 By: Shapiro Public Education 5/18/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, school districts provide financial reports that compare administrative costs to instructional costs. Over the last several years, many school districts have not been able to agree on what costs are defined as administrative costs and what costs are defined as instructional costs. Accordingly, information on these costs is being misreported. Senate Bill 562 requires the Texas Education Agency to calculate and disseminate the list of accounting function codes and provides for the administrative cost ratio to be included in the district's performance report. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 (Section 44.0071, Education Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 562 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Education Agency (TEA), each fiscal year, to compute and report to each school district: _specified information regarding the school district's total expenditures for each accounting function code; _the number of the district's full-time equivalent employees for the preceding fiscal year employed in each capacity; and _the percentage of the district's total full-time equivalent employees for the preceding fiscal year employed in each capacity, with a comparison of that percentage to the corresponding statewide average percentage of total full-time equivalent employees employed in each capacity. The bill requires TEA to include with this information a simplified definition of each accounting function code and employment capacity used by the agency in making the computations. At least annually, a school district is required to make available to the employees at each campus a list of all campus employees who were included in making the required computations regarding the number and percentage of the school district's full-time equivalent employees. The list must identify each employee by name and state the capacity in which the employee was classified. The bill requires the commissioner of education (commissioner) to adopt rules as necessary to implement these provisions. The bill provides that the school district's performance report must include the district's administrative cost ratio and a description of the method used to determine that ratio and the accounting function codes used in determining that ratio and information regarding the district's expenditures and staffing provided to the district. The bill requires that information regarding expenditures and staffing of school districts be included in a comprehensive report TEA is required to submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, the legislature, and other legislative entities. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.