Board Adopts Supplemental Budget Recommendations 

Asking to Reverse $5.1 Million Cut to DPI Budget

Members of the State Board of Education voted at their March meeting to request $156 million in additional state spending for schools in 2018-19 with stronger technology support, more school nurses, counselors, psychologists and social workers and increased funding for textbooks, digital learning resources and other instructional resources and classroom supplies.

The request was made in response to the Office of State Budget and Management for its development of Gov. Roy Cooper’s supplemental budget recommendations to the General Assembly to consider during its short session this year. The board’s requests represent a 1.7 percent increase of the state’s General Fund budget for the current year. The Office of State Budge and Management asked state agencies to limit their expansion requests to no more than a 2 percent increase in spending.

The largest single item on the board’s list of expansion items would be an investment in school building technology support for digital learning, at a cost of $56 million. The funds would allow school districts to provide one technology support position for every three schools. The board is also asking for $18.7 million to hire additional instructional support staff, such as counselors, psychologists and social workers, to make gains on its five-year goal to achieve a ratio of one support position for every 200 students. The current ratio is one to 219 such positions. To reduce the ratio of school nurses to students to one to 750, the board is requesting $12.8 million to hire additional nurses.

As part of its $156 total expansion request, the board is also asking for $8.3 million, of which $2.9 million would be non-recurring, for the Department of Public Instruction to better support schools with teacher professional development focusing on personalized learning, cybersecurity training for public school staff and improved school business support for local districts.

In addition, as part of its letter accompanying its expansion requests, the board is asking the state to roll back $5.1 in additional reductions to DPI’s budget for 2018-19 included in the two-year budget adopted by the legislature last year.

“To function at a high level, the system of schools also requires significant support and technical assistance from the state education agency, NCDPI,” states the letter, signed by Bill Cobey, board chairman. “The agency has been reduced by approximately $25 million and 250 full-time equivalents over the past 10 years while the system of schools has grown in size and complexity; as a result critical serves to districts and schools are beginning to suffer.”

In its letter, the board also urges the governor to continue efforts to increase pay for teachers and other school employees.

“A system of excellent public schools requires a well-trained, committed cadre of staff,” the letter states, “and recruiting and retaining the best staff requires competitive salaries.”

Board Reviews Annual Report on Crime, Suspensions, Dropouts 

North Carolina public schools reported fewer overall incidences of crime and violence during the 2016-17 school year from the previous year, continuing a long-term decline in numbers of offenses, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s 2016-17 Consolidated Data Report approved by the State Board of Education this month.

The report also shows a decline in numbers of both short- and long-term suspensions and expulsions. The numbers of students dropping out of high school grades was up slightly, resulting in a marginal increase in the state’s dropout rate, from 2.29 percent in 2015-16 to 2.31 percent in 2016-17.

Overall, the total number of reportable crimes across all grades decreased by 1.9 percent in 2016-17 from the previous year, with the rate per 1,000 students declining by 2.1 percent, from 6.62 percent to 6.48 percent In all, 9,834 offenses were reported last year, down from 10,020 in 2015-16 and from 10,630 in 2012-13.

Among high school students, who account for more than half of all reportable offenses, the number of reportable crimes declined by 4 percent and the rate per 1,000 students improved to 12.12 from 12.75, a decrease of 4.9 percent.

Schools are required to report 16 offenses that occur on campus or school property, of which nine are considered dangerous and violent. In 2016-17, those nine categories represented 278 individual instances, or 2.8 percent of all 9,834 reported offenses.

Among the most frequently reported offenses, illegal possession of a controlled substance declined last year to 4,289 from 4,639 the year before; possession of a weapon other than a firearm remained virtually unchanged at 2,745, and assault on school personnel increased to 1,431 from 1,329. Possession of alcoholic beverages declined to 882 from 934 in the previous year.

Board Approves Accountability Measure Revision to Meet ESSA Requirement

To satisfy federal reporting requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the board adjusted the calculation used to measure the percentage of students meeting benchmarks under the ACT WorkKeys assessment, taken by Career and Technical Education concentrators in the 12th grade.

Previously, the number of students who achieved a Silver certificate or higher on the WorkKeys assessment was divided by the total number of only those students who took it to calculate the percentage reported in accountability reports. However, the U.S. Department of Education said that under ESSA rules, the percentage of students passing the exam must be measured instead using all students in the cohort – in other words, all students in the 12th grade – for calculating the percentage of students meeting the benchmark standard of Silver on the WorkKeys assessment.

Because the change will now result in low percentages of students meeting the WorkKeys benchmarks, DPI will seek a change in state accountability rules that would combine ACT results – held over or banked from 11th grade – with WorkKeys results to measure the percentage of students meeting benchmark performance on either of the two assessments. Under current rules for determining School Performance Grades, student performance on the ACT and WorkKeys assessment are considered as separate factors.

Legislative Reports on Teacher Bonuses Show Statewide Reach, Benefits

Nearly 14,000 teachers of elementary- and middle-grade students were eligible for bonus pay this year based on the growth their students made in reading or math during the 2016-17 school year, according to reports the board approved last week prior to being submitted to the legislature.

During the last two years, the legislature has created bonus programs to reward teachers whose students make strong progress as measured by Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS).

Under the third-grade Read to Achieve teacher bonus program, now in its second year, about 1,380 third-grade reading teachers were eligible to receive $3,623 if they were in the top 25 percent of teachers statewide based on their EVAAS student growth index score in reading. In addition, 1,314 third-grade teachers qualified to receive bonuses averaging $3,805 if they ranked in the top 25 percent within their districts for student growth in reading based on EVAAS. In all, teachers shared $10 million

Nearly 4,000 fourth and fifth grade reading teachers were eligible for bonuses of $2,150 if, like third-grade teachers, their growth index score in reading put them in the top 25 percent statewide or within their districts. The total bonus allocation was $9.5 million.

Teachers in fourth through eighth grades received bonus pay for student growth in math, also, if they ranked in the top 25 percent statewide or in their local district. About 6,600 teachers were eligible, based on student performance, to receive bonus pay of $2,150.

Nearly $16 million was allocated for the math bonus program.

Precise numbers of teachers who received the bonus pay were unavailable because in order to qualify, teachers must have remained in the same district the following year.

Vice Chairman A.L. "Buddy" Collins Resigning from the State Board

A. L. "Buddy" Collins has resigned his seat as a member of the State Board of Education, board Chairman Bill Cobey announced Friday.

Collins, a Kernersville attorney, was elected vice chairman by the board in 2013 after Gov. Pat McCrory appointed him to the seat representing the Piedmont-Triad region. He will continue to serve until Gov. Roy Cooper appoints his successor or April 14, whichever comes first.

“Buddy’s departure will be a big loss to the board and to me personally,” Cobey said. “He has been a great board member and vice chairman. He’s also been a great friend, willing to do everything I asked him to do, but also willing to challenge me and give me ideas. Buddy’s commitment to doing what’s right for educators and students is unsurpassed, and his thoughtful examination of issues and thorough preparation for meetings means he will be missed here and invaluable where he goes next.”

Collins praised his fellow board members.

“It has been my privilege to work alongside each of you,” he said.  “I have learned that your level of passion and commitment is neither dissuaded nor diminished by challenges and difficulties.

“The writers of the state Constitution recognized the importance of public education when they wrote the following: ‘Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, libraries, and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.’   While I am no longer able to commit my time serving on the State Board of Education, I am confident you will continue to serve with fidelity the children of this state.”