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This bill may
create additional costs for school entities, including school administrative
units, in the course of conducting investigations into alleged employee
conduct that endangers the health, safety, or welfare of a student. School
entities will be required to place any employee under investigation on paid
leave, which may increase costs for substitute teachers or other coverage.
School entities will also be required to complete all investigations, even if
the subject of the investigation leaves the employment of the school.
Currently, school entities do not necessarily complete investigations when
the subject leaves the school, and so requiring all investigations to be
completed may require additional resources of school entities. While the total
number of investigations carried out by schools in a year is not known, the
Department of Education (department) is notified of approximately 20 to 50
investigations per year, including those investigations which are not
completed, and there are approximately 250 school administrative units in the
State. Therefore, this fiscal note assumes that the number of additional
investigations that will need to be completed by any single school
administrative unit in a given year is likely to be very low. Any additional
costs to the Department of Education to implement the provisions of this bill
are expected to be minor and can be absorbed within existing budgeted
resources. |