FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: February 10, 2026
Time Requested: 04:44 PM |
| Agency: |
Education, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 4023 |
Introduced |
HB5412 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Governor -- Bills Requested By |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0313
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund County boards of education
Legislation creates:
Increases Existing Expenses
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
This proposed legislation, in its current form, provides an additional cost to the State estimated to be $4 million to expand the Mountain State Digital Literacy Program. Under certain proposed sections pertaining to LETRS, amounts already allocated from the State’s budget under the public school support plan can be retained by the WV Department of Education to assist in training teachers in the science of reading; therefore, there is no associated cost with this portion of the proposed legislation.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2027
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
4,000,000 |
4,000,000 |
| 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 legislation increases the scope of the Mountain State Digital Literacy Program, currently funded at one million dollars each year. Expanding the program from one “content” (digital literacy) to seven (digital literacy, online assessment preparation, reading, mathematics, science, career-technical education, and internet safety), along with grade 9 - 12, broadly expands the potential cost as counties sign on to this program. It is estimated that adding these additional contents, as well as grade levels could multiple the cost of the program by up to four times; consequently, the estimated cost of expansion is $4 million.
The WVDE estimates that 5,300 educators are currently teaching ELA and/or reading, K-5. The cost to train these educators (minus the 1,547 educators currently enrolled in LETRS) in the science of reading as specified in this legislation is approximately $6,747,894. The cost to provide each of the 5300 educators with the endorsement specified in code is approximately $185,500. The facilitation costs for the LETRS program is approximately $200,000 per year. LETRS is a two-year program. For this legislation to be implemented for the current contracted educators, the cost in FY27 is estimated to be a minimum of $7,133,394. This legislation does not specify funding for subsequent years to allow for the training of newly hired educators, or additional facilitation costs for year 2.
This proposed legislation, in its current form, provides no additional cost to the State for LETRS. Under certain proposed sections, amounts already allocated from the State’s budget under the public school support plan can be retained by the WV Department of Education to assist in training teachers in the science of reading.
The bill establishes the Future-Ready Education Act which would authorize the following
1. County boards of education would be permitted to enter multi-year contracts for up to five years for educational materials with a technology licensing service component, provided that material fiscal savings are documented and cancellation clauses are included. This could provide county boards of education with the opportunity to leverage these long-term contracts for significant savings.
2. All K-5 grade public school teachers providing literacy instruction must complete science of reading training. The WV Department of Education could retain up to $7,100,000 from funds allocated under §18-9A-10 to develop and provide this training. This provision does not create a new appropriation it simply redistributes already appropriated funds, therefore, there would not be an increased cost to the State.
3. Mount State Digital Literacy Project would expand to grades K-12 (currently K-8); however, the bill does not appropriate any more funds for this purpose. The estimated cost of expansion is $4 million.
Memorandum
This legislation does not specify funding for subsequent years to allow for the training of newly hired educators, or additional facilitation costs for year 2.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Tina Payne
Email Address: tina.a.payne@k12.wv.us