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

SPONSOR Begaye

DATE TYPED 2/7/05

HB 127

SHORT TITLE Indian Education Act Bilingual Education

SB

ANALYST Chabot

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$250.0

Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 219

Relates to SB 215

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Indian Affairs (DIA)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 127 appropriates $250 thousand from the general fund to PED for the purpose of as-

sessing existing Native American bilingual language programs and establishment of a pilot pro-

gram for training Native American teachers to digitally generate instructional materials. The ap-

propriation will be used as follows:

1.

$200 thousand for an assessment of existing programs to evaluate effectiveness and rec-

ommending methods to increase proficiency of those programs, and

2.

$50 thousand to train teachers in the 16 school districts and 92 schools with Native

American language programs.

Significant Issues

According to PED, Native American students represent 11.1 percent of the states public school

House Bill 127 -- Page 2

students (35,830 of a total enrollment of 322,790). Of these 9,583 are enrolled in Bilingual Mul-

ticultural Education and Title III programs (approximately 30 percent).

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Providing instruction in native languages could lead to better educational outcomes for Native

American students.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $250 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall

revert to the general fund.

The LFC FY06 appropriation recommendation is balanced between revenues and expenditures

and any increase in recurring funding must be offset by reductions in other areas of the recom-

mendation. The Legislature must consider all priorities and funding requirements to find reve-

nue to support this legislation.

PED assesses school districts will have to delegate staff, time and resources to assist with the as-

sessment, professional development and materials development and dissemination. PED staff

will have to develop the Request for Proposal, oversee the contract and ensure alignment with

Indian Education Act goals. However, no estimate of additional cost to districts is provided;

PED costs are estimated at a little over $4 thousand. LFC assesses the PED costs can be covered

by the department’s operating budget.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

PED would have to establish procedures for requesting the fund by districts, evaluation of dis-

trict programs, outcome measures to determine if student outcomes are improved, recommend

methods to increase proficiency in indigenous languages, and arrange training programs for

teachers in sixteen school districts with Native American bilingual programs.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The LFC assesses this appropriation in this bill as recurring and included in the PED or PSS ap-

propriations. As a result, unexpended or unencumbered balance of the appropriation should re-

vert at the end of each year.

Page 2, line 23 change “2007” to “2006”.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

Native American bilingual programs will continue at the current level as outline in the depart-

ment’s Technical Assistance manual for Implementing Bilingual Education and Title III Pro-

grams.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1.

Can current bilingual education funding be used to conduct the assessment and training

House Bill 127 -- Page 3

envisioned by this bill.

2.

How will PED align this program with other bilingual programs of the department.

3.

Which bureau in PED will manage this program and why.

GAC/yr