Senate Appropriations committee staff and Joint Fiscal Office analysts reviewed the fiscal note for H.454 and described appropriation needs and an amendment to allocate transition funding and initial staffing for implementation.

Julie Richter, Joint Fiscal Office, said the bill as recommended out of Senate Finance included several specific appropriations: $100,000 to the Office of Legislative Counsel for task-force consultants, $200,000 to the State Board of Education for rule review, and $150,000 (one-time appropriation) to support a position to help develop a special-education strategic plan. JFO estimated additional AOE positions and administration for the school construction aid program would cost roughly $450,000 in FY2026 but those positions were not funded in the bill as printed.

Committee staff reported the Legislature had set aside $4,000,000 in the budget for education transformation transition work; committee members considered a draft amendment that would appropriate $3.5 million of that amount and create five new AOE positions (plus the special-education position already in H.454). The amendment (as presented to the committee) would allocate funds for: partial-year funding of five AOE positions in FY2026 ($562,500 adjusted for hiring timing), $200,000 for transition facilitation grants to transitional boards, and $2,700,000 for AOE consultants to support implementation activities. Committee staff said the amendment reduces consultant funding from the full agency request to fit within the $4,000,000 set-aside.

Senators voiced mixed positions on the bill and the amendment; several members said they supported moving the bill to keep the work moving while reserving floor amendments. The committee adopted the amendment (voice/unanimous among those present) and recorded a roll call when voting to move the bill out of committee (see actions). Committee staff said they would circulate the amendment text and supporting spreadsheets to committee members following the hearing.