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SPONSOR: | Cisneros | DATE TYPED: | 02/11/00 | HB | |||
SHORT TITLE: | Educational Technology Fund Distribution | SB | 214/aSEC | ||||
ANALYST: | Fernandez |
Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
FY00 | FY01 | FY00 | FY01 | ||
NFI |
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
State Department of Public Education (SDE)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of SEC Amendment
The Senate Education Committee amendment corrects a drafting error, changing the base equity factor from .0075 to .075.
Synopsis of Original Bill
Senate Bill 214 revises distribution of funds appropriated to the Educational Technology Fund.
The bill establishes a base equity factor or minimum funding level of .0075 of the total appropriation to the Educational Technology Fund.
Significant Issues
School districts are guaranteed to receive the minimum funding level. According to SDE, it is difficult for smaller rural districts to purchase technology under the current formula which is based on a per pupil allocation.
SDE indicates that the base equity factor should provide opportunities for small and rural districts that were not otherwise available with the current formula.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Passage of this bill does not result in an increase or decrease in required funding but rather in a redistribution of the appropriation level.
The following is the revised formula:
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
SDE does not anticipate additional administrative impact from passage of this bill. The department reports that a process and procedures are already in place for the distribution, monitoring and reporting of funds appropriated to the Educational Technology Fund.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
There is a drafting error in the bill. As drafted, the base equity factor is .0075. Clarification from SDE indicates the factor should be .075, or seventy-five tenths of one percent.
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