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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/07

HB 416

SHORT TITLE

Multi-Term Education Related Testing Services Con-

tract to Extend Beyond Four Years

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 416 allows Certain Multi-Term Education Related Testing Services Contract to Ex-

tend beyond Four Years.

HB 416 would create an exception to the Procurement Code which would allow certain profes-

sional services contracts (specifically contracts for educational assessment testing) to extend be-

yond the statutorily mandated 4-year term. The exception would allow such contracts to extend

for a 6-year term.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

According to PED, developing assessments is a costly process. The current test which assesses

New Mexico public school students in grades 3-9 cost $17,683,453.00 in Federal funding (con-

tract period 2003-2007) as well as an additional $2,587,430.00 from the General Fund (contract

period 2002-2006). This cost is for development only and does not include costs to school dis-

tricts to administer the assessment. Reducing the number of times the Public Education Depart-

ment is required to contract for new test development may significantly reduce assessment costs

that PED incurs over the next several years.

House Bill 416 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

PED notes that, at present, contracts for educational assessment have to be renewed every four

years in keeping with the Procurement Code. Generally, once a contract has been awarded, it

takes a contractor a year to develop the assessment tool and another year to field-test it. This al-

lows for only two years of data to be obtained by the contractor from that particular assessment

tool. At this point, the contract would have to be rebid and the process would have to start over

from the beginning. This creates a waste of time and resources. It also makes the assessment of

student growth for the public education system very difficult to track as only two years of data

are obtained from each contract. And comparing various assessments (performed by different

contractors) can be extremely problematic. The Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 re-

quires that public schools ensure all children are proficient in math and reading by the year 2014.

Every time the Public Education Department institutes a new testing vehicle the baselines have

to be reset. Essentially, this nullifies the previous assessment tool and the data acquired from it.

Teacher assessments, while not subject to the proficiency deadlines of the above-referenced Fed-

eral legislation, suffer the same consequences of comparability between tests developed by dif-

ferent (and often competing) vendors.

In terms of the Procurement Code, the 4 year restriction on contract terms for professional ser-

vices contracts serves to increase competition between vendors and allows the State to find the

best vendor for each procurement in keeping with the intent of the Procurement Code (Section

13-1-29 et seq. NMSA 1978). In this case, that intention is actually thwarted by the 4 year limita-

tion since this term makes it so difficult to establish valid, usable data. In order to best maximize

the purchasing value of public funds, an exception to the 4 year term in this instance is required.

Further, concerns of the Procurement Code in regard to obtaining the best value for the State are

also addressed in that the legislation reads that the contract can be in place for periods "up to six

years." All professional services contracts allow for early termination with or without cause if a

contractor is not meeting the needs and requirements of the State.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The enactment of this legislation would allow the Public Education Department to collect longi-

tudinal student and teacher assessment information. Such information is vital in improving stu-

dent achievement as well as qualifying educators to be in compliance with the Federal No Child

Left Behind Act of 2001.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

From the perspective of the Public Education Department, the enactment of this legislation

would modestly reduce the agency's workload. A new procurement would not have to be initi-

ated every 4 years for this type of contract. The request for proposals process is time-consuming

and requires intense labor resources from the agency's procurement and legal staffs.

Further, PED's workload would be reduced in that the step of resetting baselines and comparing

assessment results from varied tools would be reduced to every six years instead of performing

such intensive tasks every four years.

House Bill 416 – Page

3

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The consequences of retaining the status quo would be a continuation of a lack of consistency

and continuity in assessment of New Mexico students and teachers. Assessment tools would con-

tinue to be used for only two years, for all practical purposes, and then have to be replaced with a

new vehicle. This would continue to provide only two years of usable data per each 4 year term

contract. Further, the data obtained from different assessment tools may not be comparable be-

cause the measurements of educational standards made by different vendors may be made in dif-

ferent proportions and with differing emphases.

WEP/nt