View in your browser.

Welcome

Earlier this year, the North Carolina General Assembly mandated that the N.C. Department of Public Instruction trim its budget by 10 percent. 

In this week’s CommenTerry, I detail how they did it.  (Hint: They mostly eliminated a bunch of vacant positions.)

Bulletin Board

  • Learn. The John Locke Foundation and Carolina Journal provide unsurpassed research, analysis, reporting, and opinion on North Carolina’s most important and talked about issues.  Sign up for a Key Account to receive daily updates from our staff.
  • Attend. A list of upcoming events sponsored by the John Locke Foundation can be found at the bottom of this newsletter, as well as here.  We look forward to seeing you!
  • Share. The North Carolina History Project seeks contributors to the North Carolina History Project Encyclopedia. Please contact Dr. Troy Kickler for additional information.
  • Discuss. I would like to invite all readers to submit brief announcements, personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina.  I may publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Requests for anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].
  • Revisit. We have archived all research newsletters on our website.  Access the archive here.
  • Donate. If you find this newsletter mildly informative or entertaining, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the John Locke Foundation.  The John Locke Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that does not accept nor seek government funding. It relies solely on generous support from individuals, corporations, small businesses, and foundations.

CommenTerry

After state legislators approved a ten percent reduction to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) $70 million budget, state education officials and their boosters sounded the alarm.

In an exclusive interview with N.C. Policy Watch, Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson claimed that N.C. DPI has been "extremely efficient with taxpayer dollars" and outlined some of the recent successes spearheaded by the agency that she directs.  One liberal commentator took it way further (as he is paid to do) and declared that the cut was part of a "long-term war on public education waged by people committed to privatizing the single most important function of state government."  That is a bizarre claim given that the "people" he references increased the public education budget by $1 billion over the last four years.

Anyway, to meet the legislative requirement, Superintendent Atkinson said that she planned to eliminate 54 of 450 state-funded staff positions.  True to her word, she eliminated 53.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.  Around 90 percent of those FTEs were vacant positions (See Facts and Stats below).

Specifically, Atkinson chucked 47.9 full-time equivalents (FTE) — all of them vacant positions in residential schools and various departments — and funded 0.6 FTEs using other sources.  The $3.2 million saved from jettisoning vacant positions is the largest share of the total $5 million reduction. 

In addition, Atkinson saved nearly $580,500 by eliminating 5 FTEs currently filled.  One of these positions belongs to District and School Transformation director Pat Ashley, who (I am told) plans to retire soon.  The status of the other four is not known.

The final $1.3 million came from reducing contract services and departmental operations.  N.C. DPI will save $600,000 by dropping contracts for superintendent coaches, $50,000 for the state’s school report card website, and $50,000 for curriculum "training and support."  Another $571,000 will come from reductions in travel, computers, and printing for agency staff.

Any negative or positive effects of these cuts on our public school districts will not be known for some time.  It does not appear, however, that these cuts will paralyze N.C. DPI or "undermine the General Assembly’s own directives," as one agency-produced document warned.  In fact, the rhetoric was a far cry from the reality, a fact that may encourage legislative leaders to mandate further reductions to the N.C. DPI budget next year.

Facts and Stats

2014-15 N.C. DPI Budget Reductions

Contract Reductions

 $700,000

Staff development services, consultants, supplemental services, surveys

 

Operational Budget Reductions

 $570,847

Travel, computers, printing

 

Vacant Positions To Abolish

 

Residential Schools vacant >16 months (23.0 FTEs)

 $1,184,495

District & School Transformation (6.0 FTEs)

 $575,817

Office of Early Learning (8.0 FTEs)

 $457,801

Information Technology (4.5FTEs)

 $446,660

Career and Technical Education (.9FTE)

 $41,691

Exceptional Children (2.5 FTE)

 $207,159

Academic & Digital Learning (1 FTE)

 $54,901

Testing (1 FTE)

 $88,217

Financial and Business Services (1 FTE)

 $117,982

Filled Positions To Abolish  (5 FTEs)

 $580,481

Information Technology, New Schools Project, District and School Transformation, etc.

 

Total

 $5,026,051

Source: N.C. Department of Public Instruction, "2014-15 DPI Reduction [spreadsheet]," September 13, 2014

Acronym of the Week

DPI — Department of Public Instruction

Quote of the Week

"We’re abolishing approximately 54 positions out of roughly 450 state-funded staff positions."

– N.C. Policy Watch quoting June Atkinson, N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction

Click here for the Education Update archive.

You can unsubscribe to this and all future e-mails from the John Locke Foundation by clicking the "Manage Subscriptions" button at the top of this newsletter.