FISCAL NOTE



FUND(S):



Sources of Revenue:

Other Fund N/A

Legislation creates:

Neither Program nor Fund



Fiscal Note Summary


Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.


The purpose of this bill is to reduce the daily administrative time required of school counselors and increasing the time actually spent in counseling at-risk students and other pupils.



Fiscal Note Detail


Effect of Proposal Fiscal Year
2014
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
2015
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation)
1. Estmated Total Cost 0 14,750,266 14,750,266
Personal Services 0 0 0
Current Expenses 0 0 0
Repairs and Alterations 0 0 0
Assets 0 0 0
Other 0 14,750,266 14,750,266
2. Estimated Total Revenues 0 0 0


Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):


There is no additional cost to the State for the proposed legislation because the Step 5 funding under the Public School Support Program is not being change to provide additional counselor funding to the county boards of education. However, the estimated cost to the county boards of education for the proposed legislation is $14,750,266 per year. Based on survey conducted during the 2009-10 school year, school counselors indicated that the average amount of time spent on non-counseling activities (defined in the survey as any activity or duty not related to the development, implementation, or evaluation of the counseling program) was 30.49%. Because school counselors are currently performing non-counseling activities, if they were no longer able to perform those functions, schools would need additional personnel to perform the duties. Using the 2013-2014 number of school counselors employed and the average percentage of time spent on non-counseling duties, it is estimated that county boards would need to hire 247.15 additional employees statewide. For purposes of this fiscal note, we used the average contracted salary for classroom teachers, assuming it would be the average salary of the additional employees actually hired.



Memorandum






    Person submitting Fiscal Note: Brenda Freed
    Email Address: bfreed@access.k12.wv.us