The State Board of Education is asking the General Assembly to spend $370 million more on public schools in 2007 than the legislature did last year. The total, which represents an increase of 5 percent over last year’s budget, was the maximum allowed under the guidelines issued by the State Budget Office. It does not include money for teacher pay raises, which will be considered in a separate part of the budget.
The “expansion budget request” approved at the board’s regular meeting Dec. 7 lists 24 programs or projects the board would like funded, and another dozen smaller items requested by the Department of Public Instruction.
Board Chairman Howard Lee described the budget request as “tight and responsible” and emphasized that the priorities chosen by the board reflect a strong commitment to moving the state forward, particularly in technology and teacher mentoring.
“It’s a very strong budget that positions the board to carry out what the governor wants,” he said. The board was “asking for stronger accountability from local school districts, as we demand stronger accountability from ourselves.”
The most expensive item on the board’s list is an ambitious effort to outfit nearly 17,000 classrooms across the state with high-tech equipment such as digital whiteboards, data projectors, and document cameras. The “21st Century Classrooms,” as they are called, would be installed in 406 selected schools in 41 school districts. Other would follow in future years. The board has asked for nearly $122 million to implement the plan.
Digital whiteboards have a dry-erase whiteboard writing surface that can capture writing electronically. A teacher using this technology can illustrate concepts on the board, and send the images directly to students‚ computers, or print out paper copies as needed. Using a data projector in conjunction with the whiteboard allows a teacher to present lessons that incorporate Power Point presentations, complete with embedded video. It’s estimated that each 21st Century Classroom will cost more than $7,200 to install.
The board also requested $24 million to ensure that all schools in North Carolina have high-speed broadband Internet connections. Under the prodding of Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the General Assembly started to do that last year, but appropriated $6 million in nonrecurring funds. DPI estimates that it will take $24 million to finish the job.
Gov. Mike Easley’s fingerprints are also evident in the budget request, as three of his signature programs made the cut. The board asked for $23 million for More at Four, a pre-kindergarten program for at-risk 4-year-olds, which the governor has long championed. Another Easley initiative, Learn and Earn, is earmarked to receive $10 million. Learn and Earn is a program that allows high school students the chance to earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree over five years, by taking some classes at community colleges in conjunction with their regular studies.
Easley also won the board’s support for expanding his literacy coaches program to 100 more middle schools. Last year’s budget established the literacy coaches program in 100 middle schools with high at-risk‚ student populations. The board is recommending doubling that number, at a cost of $6 million.
One item the board insisted on was money to hire full-time mentors for new teachers. School districts have struggled for years to keep new teachers on the job, and one reason often cited by those who give up on teaching is a lack of professional support. The state has tried to remedy this in the past by paying experienced teachers a small bonus to act as mentors for their new colleagues, but the program has had limited success because the mentors typically still have a full classload of their own, plus extra duties.
The board’s proposal is to give districts money to hire one full-time mentor for every 15 “initially licensed” (less than three year’s experience) teacher.
Other big-ticket items include nearly $40 million for the Disadvantaged Student Supplemental Fund, a program that provides extra funding to school districts based on the number of children from poor families they serve, and $25 million in increased funding for children who have special needs. With school violence and security becoming more of an issue, the board asked for $6.2 million to pay for resource officers (local police detailed to schools) in middle schools.
Continuing a trend in public education of paying market rates for educational talent, the board requested $10 million to pay some principals more than others, based on the greater time demands of their jobs. Under the proposal middle-school principals would receive 10 percent more than elementary school principals, while high school principals would be paid 15 percent more than their elementary-school counterparts. Also, the board asked for nearly $3 million to pay signing bonuses and to establish higher salary increments for principals in certain hard-to-staff schools.
With their request capped at $370 million, the board could not fund everything it wanted. One major item the board considered but left out was a proposal designed to enable elementary schools to comply with the “teacher planning time” law passed last session. The law, sponsored by Rep. Maggie Jeffus of Guilford County, directed school improvement teams to develop a plan for making five hours of duty-free planning time available to all teachers by the 2007-8 school year, but appropriated no funds to make it happen.
Elementary schools have reported difficulty in arranging teachers’ schedules so as to allow the planning time, and school officials have said that they will not be able to comply without additional personnel.
The legislature will take up the board’s request when it convenes Jan. 24.
Jim Stegall is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.