North Carolina education officials seek $230M spending increase in next state budget
(The Center Square) – North Carolina school officials have asked the state for a $234 million increase in state funding in the next biennium budget.
The North Carolina State Board of Education (NCSBE) and the Department of Instruction (DPI) presented their funding requests Thursday to the House and Senate education appropriations committees.
School officials are requesting $101 million to update DPI’s operating and data systems to support local school districts and charter schools.
“If this doesn’t get funded, we’ll suffer some serious setbacks,” DPI Director of Government and Community Affairs Jamey Falkenbury told lawmakers. “The state would waste a lot of money if we don’t address this now.”
The General Assembly must create a state spending plan for the next two fiscal years during this legislative session. Each fiscal year starts July 1 and ends June 30 the following calendar year. Lawmakers must consider changes to recurring funding and one-time allocations.
The General Assembly passed a law in 2016 that required DPI to modernize its systems, including data management, financial, payroll, human resources and capital project planning information. The process has been delayed, however, because a budget has not been approved for the past two fiscal years. Officials are requesting more than $45 million directly for the modernization plan, $32.6 million of which would be recurring funds.
“The price tag is $97 million, and that is to do the project over three or four years,” Falkenbury said. “We understand that IT contracts roll over, so if this is funded, this would not revert back. This is what the recurring number is.”
DPI also requested about $40 million to expand cybersecurity and training. About $26 million of the cybersecurity funding would be recurring to cover staffing and contracts. Officials requested another $15.3 million to address daily technology and data needs such as school bus routing and interoffice operations.
DPI and NCSBE requested $60.4 million to hire and retain school psychologists, nurses, social workers and for various mental health initiatives and school safety. The request includes $3.9 million to cover copayments for students on reduced lunch and $7.5 million for special-needs services.
School officials also asked for $38.3 million to tackle COVID-19 learning loss. A report released Monday by the NCBSE showed more than half of North Carolina high school students failed their end-of-course tests in the fall and 75% of third-graders are not proficient in reading.
According to fiscal analysts, the net base budget appropriation for North Carolina K-12 schools in fiscal year 2021-2022 and fiscal year 2022-2023 is $10 billion a year.
The North Carolina school system gets 67% of its funding from the state, 23% from local governments and 10% from the federal government.
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