Today’s News & Observer reports State Board of Education Howard Lee’s protest over legislative attention:
? the House provision to take a microscope to DPI’s functions and budget — through a process known as “zero-based budgeting” — has surprised many education leaders, including Lee.
“It makes me wonder why we would be the first agency to be targeted,” Lee said. “I don’t know what the message is.”
With all due respect to Chairman Lee, I think the message is that
DPI spent nearly $6 billion last year, which doesn’t even count over $3 billion in federal and local funding, and Governor Easley’s 2005-2007 proposed budget earmarks 57.8% of the state’s budget for education — in other words, more than all other categories combined.
So if you want to reduce overall spending, naturally you start with the biggest item on the list. What’s surprising about that?
