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

This letter details procedures districts must follow related to reimbursement for the SAT and ACT authorized by House Bill (HB) 3, 86th Texas Legislature, 2019. 

Background 

The College Preparation Assessment Reimbursement, authorized by Texas Education Code (TEC), §48.155, provides reimbursement funding to districts for the cost of the administration of college preparation assessments (SAT, ACT, and TSIA) per student in the spring of their junior year or in their senior year, beginning in the 2019‐2020 school year. School districts cannot receive more than one reimbursement per student. TEA provides each district estimated funding annually for assessment reimbursement, which can be found in the Summary of School Finance Report (line 40). The Texas Education Agency (TEA) will settle up with districts in the spring of the following fiscal year once all student assessment data is processed. 

For the 2019-2020 school year, ACT and the College Board both billed a price of $35 per eligible student for school day administrations. National day administrations were billed at a national day rate determined by each vendor. 

Methodology 

TEA receives testing data directly from ACT and the College Board (SAT). In order to verify that each student is a unique Texas student enrolled in a Texas district or open-enrollment charter school, TEA matched each student to a record in the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) and separated the data into four categories: 

• School Day – Matched: Every student who participated in an ACT and/or SAT School Day administration in Texas and who was matched to a student record in PEIMS 
• National Day – Matched: Every student who participated in an ACT and/or SAT National Day administration in Texas and who was matched to a student record in PEIMS. 
• School Day/National Day – Unmatched: Any student who participated in an ACT and/or SAT National Day and/or School Day administration and who was NOT matched to a student record in PEIMS. TEA will only reimburse unmatched students that have a 10-digit Unique ID. The district should add the Unique ID in this application for students for whom they want a reimbursement. 
• Not Represented: Any student for whom the district paid for an assessment and is not found in any of the above categories. The district will have the opportunity to submit the student for a reimbursement request. 

Action from Districts 

TEA will release the ACT/SAT testing data to districts in TEAL for districts to review, verify and submit for reimbursement. The person responsible for this project must have Accountability-level access in TEAL. Only the Superintendent can grant this level of access in TEAL. 

In the TEAL application, districts will need to review the following four categories: 

• School Day – Matched: This link is an Excel file that districts may download, review and keep for record-retention. TEA assumes that if a student tested in the school day environment, the district paid for the cost of the exam at the state-negotiated rate and is eligible for reimbursement. * 
  • *Since the School Day – Matched students are automatically considered for reimbursement, districts whose students did take a school day assessment but did not pay for their students must opt out. This is not needed for districts that want to be reimbursed for national day students. 
• National Day – Matched: This link provides access to an application where districts SELECT the students for whom the district paid and who tested on a national testing day. Districts must ADD the 10-Digit Student ID. To be eligible for reimbursement, districts must identify students and verify the district paid for the cost of the exam. 
• School Day/National Day – Unmatched: This link provides access to an application where districts SELECT the students for whom the district paid and who tested on a national or school testing day. Districts must ADD the 10-Digit Student ID. To be eligible for reimbursement, districts must identify students and verify the district paid for the cost of the exam. 
• Not Represented: Any student for whom the district paid for an assessment and is not found in any of the above categories. The district will have the opportunity to submit the student for a reimbursement request while the TEAL application is open. 

Dates and Deadlines 

The applications in TEAL will open on November 9, 2020, and close December 18, 2020. 

Once the application closes, TEA will review the submissions, combine it with Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA) submissions, and finalize reimbursement 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 TEAL their reimbursement data, along with codes to elaborate on reimbursement decisions. 

For Further Information 

TEA has released training on how to navigate the TEAL platform. Additionally, FAQs regarding the college preparation assessment reimbursement and other support and guidance are 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 or 512-463-9762.