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March 17, 2023 SB 23-181
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 23-0800
Sen. Winter F.; Mullica
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
March 17, 2023
Senate Education
John Armstrong | 303-866-6289
john.armstrong@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: DYSLEXIA SCREENING IN SCHOOLS
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☒ School Districts
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill requires students in all schools to be screened for reading disabilities and
establishes an independent ombudsman’s office to handle parental complaints. The
bill will increase state expenditures on an ongoing basis.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2023-24, the bill requires an appropriation of $15.1 million to the Department
of Education
Fiscal Note
Status:
The fiscal note reflects the introduced bill. Due to time constraints, this analysis is
preliminary and will be updated later to reflect new information.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 23-181
Budget Year
FY 2023-24
Out Year
FY 2024-25
Revenue - -
Expenditures General Fund $15,107,579 $1,046,346
Centrally Appropriated $169,366 $220,009
Total Expenditures $15,276,945 $1,266,355
Total FTE 8.6 FTE 11.2 FTE
Transfers - -
Other Budget Impacts General Fund Reserve $2,266,137 $156,952
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March 17, 2023 SB 23-181
Summary of Legislation
The bill requires students across all grade levels to receive regular screening for dyslexia and other
reading disabilities. The bill specifies the requirements for screening instruments and requires that
all schools and school districts inform parents on the method and results of screening for students,
and provide supplemental instruction and intervention for children with dyslexia.
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) must publish screening methods, best practices and
strategies to improve reading comprehension for students on its website. CDE must also offer training
to educators in best practices for supplemental reading instruction and interpreting screening results
to teachers across all grades. Finally, the bill establishes an ombudsman’s office separate from CDE
which will receive and resolve parental complaints regarding supplemental reading instruction.
Assumptions
This fiscal note assumes that the training required in the bill will be offered to teachers, staff members
and administrators in all school levels, including secondary grades. This fiscal note assumes that the
ombudsman’s office will receive approximately 500 complaints, based on approximately one percent
of parents whose students have a reading plan will file a complaint. These complaints are expected
to range between 20 and 40 hours of work to come to a resolution.
State Expenditures
The bill increases state expenditures in the Department of Education by $15.3 million in FY 2023-24
and $1.3 million in FY 2024-25, paid from the General Fund. Expenditures are shown in Table 2 and
detailed below.
Table 2
Expenditures Under SB 23-181
FY 2023-24 FY 2024-25
Department of Education
Personal Services $796,434 $1,031,226
Operating Expenses $12,825 $15,120
Capital Outlay Costs $73,370 -
Programming Costs
$74,950 -
Stakeholder Engagement Meetings $150,000 -
Training Costs for Teachers and Staff $14,000,000 -
Centrally Appropriated Costs
1
$169,366 $220,009
Total Cost $15,276,945 $1,266,355
Total FTE 8.6 FTE 11.2 FTE
1
Centrally appropriated costs are not included in the bill's appropriation. Page 3
March 17, 2023 SB 23-181
Staff. The new office of the Literary Ombudsman will hire 6.0 FTE to address complaints from
parents. These staff include one director and five senior consultants who will process and respond to
approximately 500 complaints annually. Additionally, the CDE will hire 0.5 Consultant to implement
the new database upgrades in the Department’s Information Management System. Additionally, CDE
will require 1.5 FTE to conduct stakeholder engagement required by Section 11 of the bill, 2.5 FTE to
conduct trainings required by Section 12 of the bill and 1.0 FTE to develop the online dyslexia course
required by Section 13 of the bill. In total, 11.2 FTE will implement the provisions of the bill between
the CDE and the new Literary Ombudsman’s office. Costs are prorated for the General Fund Pay date
shift and an assumed August 2023 start date. Standard operating expenses and capital outlay are
included for this new staff.
Programming costs. CDE’s Information Management System will be upgraded to handle the
additional data intake of dyslexia screenings, the number of students identified as requiring
supplemental reading instruction and additional data for supplemental reading instruction, requiring
approximately 600 hours of testing and development.
Stakeholder engagement meetings. Each activity identified in Section 11 of the bill will require
between four and eight stakeholder meetings for approximately 15 stakeholders per meetings. Costs
include lodging, mileage reimbursement, food and substitute teacher coverage where appropriate,
totaling $150,000.
Training costs for teachers and staff. Approximately 70,000 employees across all school districts in
Colorado will receive training, including 4,500 Pre-K teachers, 45,000 elementary school teachers,
15,000 secondary school teachers, 4,000 administrators and 500 other school staff members. Based on
training costs for similar programs such as the READ act, this training is estimated to cost between
$200 and $600 per participant, resulting in costs of approximately $14 million.
Centrally appropriated costs. Pursuant to a Joint Budget Committee policy, certain costs associated
with this bill are addressed through the annual budget process and centrally appropriated in the Long
Bill or supplemental appropriations bills, rather than in this bill. These costs, which include employee
insurance and supplemental employee retirement payments, are shown in Table 2.
Other Budget Impacts
General Fund reserve. Under current law, an amount equal to 15 percent of General Fund
appropriations must be set aside in the General Fund statutory reserve. Based on this fiscal note, the
bill is expected to increase the amount of General Fund held in reserve by the amounts shown in
Table 1, decreasing the amount of General Fund available for other purposes.
School District
Teachers in local education providers that complete the training and screenings will have additional
workload to provide additional services to students. Substitute teachers will be called up to cover for
staff members that participate in the trainings offered by CDE. Costs will vary by district. Additional
detail on school district impacts will be added in a subsequent fiscal note after further review of the
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March 17, 2023 SB 23-181
Technical Note
Screenings for students are specified by grade level, with “second grade and above” described as the
highest level of screening. This fiscal note assumes that teachers, staff and students in both elementary
and secondary grades are required to comply with the provisions of the bill. However, additional
clarification is needed as to the number of screenings that are expected to be given to students, annual
training required, and grades and staff impacted. This fiscal note may be revised as additional
information is collected.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect 90 days following adjournment of the General Assembly sine die, assuming no
referendum petition is filed.
State Appropriations
For FY 2023-24, the bill requires a General Fund Appropriation of $15,107,579 to the Department of
Education, and 8.6 FTE.
State and Local Government Contacts
Education Human Services School Districts
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit: leg.colorado.gov/fiscalnotes.