Senate Bill 500 Implementation: Additional Funding for Special Education Services

Senate Bill 500 (SB 500) passed by the 86th Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Abbott on June 6, 2019, provides additional special education funding to local educational agencies (LEAs).

SB 500, Section 30(3)(C), provides an amount of $61,147,333 for special education funding under Strategy A.1.1., FSP – Equalized Operations, to be distributed for each full-time equivalent student in average daily attendance in a special education program, in proportion to the applicable weight for the student under the public school finance system. The purpose of this letter is to inform LEAs about timeline and coding of this additional special education funding provided under SB 500.

These amounts will be paid out by August 30, 2019 and will be delivered as a stand-alone payment to all affected LEAs outside of the Summary of Finances. LEAs should document as follows:

• Record payments in the General Fund, under Object Code 5819, Other Foundation School Program Act Revenues
• Record expenditures of these funds under Program Intent Code (PIC) 23, Services to Students with Disabilities (Special Education)

As a resource, included as an attachment titled Special Education Supplemental Payments.

Questions

If you have questions related to the special education funding provisions under SB 500, please contact the Division of Forecasting and Fiscal Analysis by phone at (512) 463-9238 or by email at sfinance@tea.texas.gov.