FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: February 02, 2023
Time Requested: 05:07 PM |
| Agency: |
Education, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2649 |
Introduced |
HB3222 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Education (K12) |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0317
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund N/A
Legislation creates:
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
This legislation, in its current form, does not have any fiscal impact on the WVDE; however, if enacted it would have indeterminable costs that would be solely borne by the various county boards of education. This proposed legislation does not change how the foundation allowances for instructional and technology funding are calculated but it does change how these funds are distributed to the districts and individual teachers. Currently, these funds are unrestricted and can be used by the county boards of education for any purpose but this legislation restricts the funds to be used for a specific purpose.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2023
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2024
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
This proposed legislation restricts the county boards of education’s distribution of the foundational allowance for Step 7a (allowance for instructional programs) and 7b (allowance for technology funding) of the Public School Support Plan (PSSP). Currently, county boards of education each receive a base amount of $150,000 and $30,000, respectively, for Steps 7a and 7b, with any remaining funds distributed proportionately based on the average of each county’s average daily attendance and the county’s second month net enrollment. The total appropriation under these steps of the PSSP is set at the prior year appropriation amount plus a percentage recapture of the growth in local share: Step 7a – 10% and Step 7b – 20%.
The proposed legislation would distribute the funds calculated in Step 7a (preliminarily calculated at $56,983,399 for 2023-24) directly to a classroom expense account setup for each individual classroom teacher. With 18,852 teachers employed across the state, this would amount to approximately $3,023 annually per teacher. Under this proposal, each one of these teachers would be issued a P-card with online access to be able to view their individual account. Purchases made from these classroom expense accounts must be published online with a link on the county board of education’s website. Currently, these funds are distributed in a block grant to each county board of education and are not restricted to any one purpose.
Additionally, this legislation provides that funds calculated in Step 7b (preliminarily calculated at $36,461,563 for 2023-24) would be passed directly to an account for each school to be used as necessary to meet the school’s technological needs and purchasing authority would rest with each county board of education’s technology integration specialist or a newly formed technology committee. Currently, these funds are distributed in a block grant to each county board of education and are not restricted to any one purpose. This portion of the proposed legislation appears to be contradictory to W. Va. Code § 18-9-3 which states, in pertinent part, “The treasurer of the board of education shall pay money only upon the order of the board.”
Upon passage, various indeterminable costs will be incurred by county boards of education, or individual schools, including, but not limited to:
• Additional staffing needs to handle additional purchase card implementation, tracking of purchases, posting purchases to an online source, etc.;
• Costs associated with ensuring proper controls are in place over the expanded issuance and usage of P-cards;
• Establishing technology committees at schools that do not employ a certified and endorsed technology integration specialist; and,
• Costs associated with the development of an online database used to publish purchases made by teachers.
Additionally, county boards of education will be forced to find alternative local funding sources for initiatives that are currently funded through Step 7a and 7b allocations (preliminarily calculated at a total of $93,444,962 for 2023-24). Presently, these funds are unrestricted; therefore, county boards of education have the freedom to use them for any authorized purpose. Depending on how each county board of education has budgeted these funds, restricting the use could create several issues including, but not limited to:
• Problems with current vendor contracts;
• Interruption of current student services provided with these funds;
• Interruption of other county initiatives provided with these funds; and,
• Reductions in force (RIFs) for positions currently funded using Step 7a and Step 7b funds.
Memorandum
The proposed legislation requires various procedures to be in place relating to the issuance of instructional technology devices. Many county boards of education have already locally implemented some form of a damage control and use policy pertaining to board issued technology devices. County boards of education engaged in a 1:1 technology initiative generally pay less than $500 per laptop per student. This proposed legislation would require an estimated refundable damage deposit of not less than $25 per student if the student is requesting permission to take the school-issued device home.
Line 13 of the proposed legislation states that purchases made from classroom expense accounts with a p-card shall be exempt from district vendor registration requirements. This could be contradictory to various sections of WV Code. WV Code §5A-3-12 states in part that vendors doing business with a state agency are required to be registered with the West Virginia Purchasing Division. Additionally, W. Va. Code § 18-9-3A(a) requires county boards of education to publish the name of each firm, corporation, and person who received more than $250 in the aggregate from all funds during the previous fiscal year, together with the aggregate amount received from all funds and the purpose for which paid in conjunction with the publication of the board’s annual financial statement publication.
While the proposed legislation appears to be referencing the foundational allowances provided under W. Va. Code § 18-9A-10, this is not clearly stated in the proposed legislation.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Sam Pauley
Email Address: sepauley@k12.wv.us