House Bill 3 (HB 3) Implementation: College Preparation Assessment Reimbursements

This letter details processes and procedures for districts regarding the College Preparation Assessment reimbursement authorized by House Bill 3 (HB 3) of the 86th Legislative Session, 2019.  Included below are the processes for reporting assessments for reimbursement.

Background
Texas Education Code §48.155 states that a school district is entitled to a reimbursement to help defray the cost of the administration of college preparation assessments (SAT, ACT, and TSIA) to students in the spring of their junior year or during their senior year, beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. School districts cannot receive more than one reimbursement per student. For the 2019-2020 school year, districts received estimated Foundation School Program allocations. The amount of estimated funding may be found on line 39 of the Summary of Finance report.

Districts will receive estimated funding annually for assessment reimbursement. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will settle up with districts in the spring of the following year, once all student attendance data is received.

TEA has negotiated with the College Board and ACT, Inc. a $35 rate per student for school day administrations. National administrations (Saturday testing) and TSIA rates remain unchanged.

Process for School Day Administration
TEA will receive testing data directly from the testing vendors to determine the accuracy and number of students that tested by district. In doing so, TEA will automatically consider school day testers for reimbursement. No additional action is needed by districts that administered school day testing of the ACT and/or SAT.

If a district wishes to be reimbursed for a National administration or the TSIA, in lieu of school day administration, a request must be submitted to TEA for reimbursement. 

Process for National Administration and TSIA 
TEA will release a To the Administrator Addressed letter that will detail the process for districts to request reimbursement for national administrations of the SAT or ACT and/or TSIA. If requesting reimbursement, districts should be prepared to provide student-level information including, but not limited to:

• For a national administration request: name, date of birth, 10-digit Texas Student Data System (TSDS) unique ID, grade level at time of testing, type of assessment taken (SAT or ACT), administration location, administration date, cost of administration (excluding essay and fees), and proof of payment. 
• For a TSIA request: name, date of birth, 10-digit TSDS unique ID, grade level at time of testing, type of assessment taken including BOTH reading and math, location of EACH assessment administration, date of EACH assessment administration, cost of EACH assessment administration (excluding fees), and proof of payment.

Once all submissions have been received, TEA will verify and review ALL data to finalize total amounts. The highest cost exam will be the exam considered for each eligible student. Once settle-up occurs in April 2021, districts will be able to access through TEA Login (TEAL) their district’s aggregate data. 

Tracking Assessments at the District Level
Districts should be proactive in developing internal processes to collect and maintain assessment information and be prepared to provide this information to TEA.

Funding Considerations
Districts may not use the assessment administration cost to meet the 55% expenditure requirement for the college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus (program intent code 38) funding. However, districts may use the CCMR bonus to pay for additional college preparation assessments and pre-assessments. 

Important Notice on SAT School Day Ordering
When ordering SAT school day tests on the College Board website, districts should NOT use student Social Security numbers when registering their students. Instead, districts are to put the student unique ID (10-digit state-assigned ID) OR the student local ID (9-digit district-assigned ID). This will allow TEA to properly identify and match students within our data system.

For Further Information
TEA has released FAQs regarding the college preparation assessment reimbursement. Additionally, support and guidance on this process will be available on the TEA College Preparation Assessment website.

If you have additional questions regarding this correspondence, please contact Advanced Academics at advancedacademics@tea.texas.gov.