State Board of Education looks to get more done with less money

The State Board of Education must cut its budget by more than $737,000. It’s struggling to make those cuts without laying off more staff.

General Assembly leaders said the board was wasting too much on bureaucracy. So lawmakers ordered the board to reduce the Department of Public Instruction’s budget. As outlined by the 2017-19 budget plan, the board must reduce DPI’s budget by 6.2 percent for the 2017-18 fiscal year, and 13.9 percent for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

SBE or DPI probably won’t see more money, so long as the legislature remains controlled by fiscal conservatives who expect greater accountability from DPI and the board.

Last month, SBE approved a $2.5 million cut, with $1.6 million coming from staff layoffs and $865,000 in operating reductions.

Now the board has to come up with a plan to cut the remaining $737,000 before its Sept. 7 board meeting.

“Let me put it this way, we’re trying to avoid any more staff cuts,” board chairman Bill Cobey told WRAL. “I’m hopeful that we won’t have to cut any more personnel this time around. I’m still not sure, still not 100 percent.”

During a closed session, SBE discussed alternatives to staff cuts. Alternatives include paying four employees with federal money rather than state funds. The board then would not have to offer severance pay if those employees are laid off later.

Other alternatives include reducing the department’s salary reserve by $70,000 and spending roughly $1.2 million less on operations.

“I’m not happy that we’re cutting operations this much,” Cobey explained. “However, as long as we’re leaving enough operation money for our remaining staff to get their job fully done, I’m OK with it.”

Americans for Prosperity in North Carolina responded to Cobey’s comments to WRAL in a press release, arguing Cobey’s priorities are a problem.

“I think we all hope that Chairman Cobey remembers who he’s supposed to serve and decides to shift his focus to the students in North Carolina’s classrooms rather than the job security of his fellow administrators,” AFP-NC state director Donald Bryson said. “Our goal should be to help teachers teach and children learn, and that won’t happen by spending even more money to prop up administrative fat in Raleigh.”

Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation, noted that lawmakers didn’t specify how the board gets its budget in line.

“The General Assembly gave them the flexibility to make cuts however they think they should be made,” Stoops said. “The fact [Cobey] is prioritizing staff over programs and operations is his prerogative.”

Stoops added these cuts are forcing the department to decide what services should come from Raleigh and what could be done better locally.

“I think the best way going forward is rather than mandating a certain level of cuts in the next fiscal year is to conduct a study that would examine functions of the department and recommend cuts from there,” Stoops said.

The board will have to reduce DPI’s budget even more, by 13.9 percent for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

“My greatest desire is that the General Assembly will see how hard we have worked on this and take a look at the result of our budget cuts and decide to back off of the additional budget cuts that have been passed for the second year,” Cobey said in the WRAL report.

Stoops says Cobey may not get his wish.

“I don’t believe the legislature is going to eliminate the cuts for the upcoming year,” Stoops said. “They may reduce the amount the department needs to cut, but I don’t think they will eliminate it like Chairman Cobey wants.”