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

SPONSOR Fox-Young

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/1/2007

HB 709

SHORT TITLE Qwest Settlement to School Capital Outlay

SB

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$2,600.0

**$5,200.0 Non-recurring

Quest Settlement

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

** The FY08 amount includes the FY09 appropriation.

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

$2,600.0

$2,600.0

$2,600.0 Non-recurring

Public School

Capital Outlay

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Not Received From

Public Regulation Commission (PRC)

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

Public Education Department (PED)

Public School Facilities Authority (PSFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 709 appropriates $7.8 million from the Quest settlement fund to the public school

capital outlay fund for the purpose of constructing and remodeling school buildings, making

lease payments to charter schools, paying the operational costs of PSFA and all other provisions

of the Public Schools Capital Outlay Act. The bill appropriates the $2.6 million for each fiscal

House Bill 709 – Page

2

year from FY07 and subsequent fiscal years any unexpended or unencumbered balance shall not

revert.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

This bill provides for continuing appropriations. The LFC has concerns with including

continuing appropriation language in the statutory provisions for funds, as earmarking reduces

the ability of the legislature to establish spending priorities.

HB-709 would make available additional funding available to the public school capital outlay

fund for use in constructing school facilities. PSFA notes a statewide need of over $3 billion in

school construction and renovation needs.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to a presentation made by PED, these funds would be targeted at seventh and eighth

grades student and teacher groups at selected School Improvement sites with high Native

American and/or Hispanic populations.

The proposal will place class sets of laptop computers and carts into each core academic

classroom. The laptops will include a computerized learning system that focuses on language

acquisition and core content areas of language Arts/reading, math and science.

Each participating teacher will receive professional development aligned with the three-tier

licensure requirements and success will be measured by increases on student performance.

An LFC quick response review of the statewide laptop initiative conducted in 2006 noted that the

results of site visits to schools revealed a majority had minimal implementation, deficient

networks and lacked a technology-based curriculum. Also, the review noted that the department

is not tracking or documenting positive outcomes of student achievement attributable to the

initiative. The effectiveness if this program is not clear at this time.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The final agreement with Qwest provided a total of $5 million to be distributed over three years.

The Legislature may wish to make the following changes:

Page 1, Line 16 strike the appropriation amount and replace with “One million six hundred sixty-

six thousand six hundred dollars ($1,666.600)"

PA/nt