The Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE) is a small office housed in the Department of Administration.  DNPE oversees over 61,000 home schools and around 700 private schools throughout North Carolina.  Governor McCrory’s budget recommends placing DNPE “under a unified office attached to the Governor’s Office.” If the measure survives the lengthy budget process, it would relocate nine programs with a combined budget of $11 million and 42 employees.

The budget itself does not identify the programs that would be subject to the transfer. Instead, they are grouped together in a vague line item, “NC GEAR – Transfer Advocacy Programs” (p. 85).

JLF asked the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) to provide additional information, i.e., a list of the unidentified programs.

According to OSBM, the following entities would be subject to the transfer:

a. Commission on Indian Affairs
b. Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses
c. NC Council for Women and Domestic Violence Commission
d. Sexual Assault Program
e. Domestic Violence Center
f.  Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office
g. Human Relations Commission
h. Martin Luther King Commission
i.  Non-Public Education

The problem with the proposal is that party politics would likely interfere with the work of DNPE.   I suspect that Governor McCrory would leave the office alone, but future governors may not be so accommodating.

In the past, home and private school families have been able to thwart attempts to move DNPE into the Department of Public Instruction.  Without a doubt, the governor’s proposal will encounter a similar fate.