Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund
State Expenditures General Fund
FTE Position Change	0.0 FTE	0.0 FTE
Other State Impact: None Identified
Effective Date: Upon signature of the Governor
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: None
Local Government Impact: More school districts may be eligible for in-school or in-home suspension grants if additional moneys are made available for this purpose. See the School District Impact Section on Page 2.

The State Board of Education presently has the authority to approve grant programs for in-school or in-home suspension. Each grant is for a period of two years, subject to review of the effectiveness of the program, and may be renewed for an additional two-year period. The grant for each individual program may not exceed $25,000, and the aggregate value of all grants in any one year may not exceed $500,000. This bill would remove the $500,000 statutory cap, but the bill does not appropriate additional funding for this purpose. This provision of the bill is assessed as having a conditional state and local fiscal impact.

Under current law, when a judicial proceeding to compel school attendance is brought before the court, the court may require the child or parent to follow an appropriate treatment plan that addresses problems affecting the child's attendance. The bill authorizes (but does not require) the treatment plan to include a requirement for the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian to attend a course in appropriate parenting techniques and to provide documentation to the court demonstrating successful completion of the course.

The bill requires the advisory accountability committee for each public school in the state to include a dropout prevention plan in its annual accountability plan. In addition, each school district would include a dropout prevention plan within its accountability plan.

Current law authorizes the State Board of Education to approve grants for in-school or in-home suspension, up to a maximum expenditure level of $500,000. The grant for each individual program may not exceed $25,000 annually. The Department of Education was appropriated $497,957 for this purpose in FY 1998-99. While each approved program grant may not exceed $25,000, the bill eliminates the $500,000 annual program cap.

Under the bill, the number of grant programs that could be approved by the State Board of Education may be greater than 20. Any additional moneys appropriated for the program to the Department of Education would be in the Long Appropriations Bill. The bill's fiscal impact is conditional and dependent upon the number of grant programs approved annually by both the State Board of Education and the General Assembly.

The bill authorizes a court-ordered treatment plan that addresses problems affecting the child's school attendance to include a requirement for the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian attend a course in appropriate parenting techniques and provide documentation to the court demonstrating successful completion of the course. It is assumed that the cost of attending the parenting course would be borne by the person attending the course. Therefore, this provision would have no fiscal impact on the court system.

Currently, up to 20 grant programs per year of $25,000 each may be granted by the State Board of Education for in-school or in-home suspension within the $500,000 annual program cap. Under the bill, the number of grant programs that could be approved may be greater than 20 by eliminating the cap. Any additional moneys appropriated for the program to the Department of Education would be in the Long Appropriations Bill. Fiscal impact to local school districts are dependent upon the number of grant programs approved annually.

The requirement that the advisory accountability committee for each public school in the state include a dropout prevention plan in its annual accountability plan and for each school district to include a dropout prevention plan in its accountability plan may require a shifting of existing resources for some school districts in order to comply. No additional funding would be provided for this function.

The fiscal note implies that no appropriation is necessary in FY 1999-00 to implement the provisions of the bill. However, the General Fund line item in the Department of Education budget for in-school and in-home suspension programs would no longer be limited to the current statutory maximum annual level of $500,000. Thus, in FY 2000-01, the amount of money requested in the Department of Education's budget may exceed $500,000, depending on the number of programs approved for funding by the State Board of Education.