Dozens of employees at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction have received layoff notices. This comes after the General Assembly made a $5.1 million cut to the agency's budget for the new fiscal year.
The State Board of Education and Superintendent Mark Johnson asked lawmakers to hold off on the budget cut, which comes after a $3 million drop last year.
They've been looking over changes recommended by a recent audit of the agency. Those include modernizing systems and processes.
“I support the decisions we made, but we did not make them lightly. I thank all the affected employees for their hard work in support of our public schools,” says Johnson. “Each will have the option to receive transition assistance, and we are adamant about helping each affected employee who wants our help to find new employment.”
The cuts at NCDPI are primarily in two departments: information technology and educator support services, a division that focuses on low-performing schools.
“The big question is what kind of impact is this going to have on their low-performing school efforts. You know, with the audit recommendations, they are going to be moving toward kind of a new strategy for addressing low-performing schools – more of a regional approach – so we will have to wait and see what that looks like and how effective it is,” says Alex Granados, a reporter with EducationNC who recently reported on the cuts.
State education leaders say the layoffs affect 40 employees. Twenty-one vacant positions were also eliminated at the agency.
The budget reduction has drawn some controversy because lawmakers excluded a few programs from the cuts including the Office of Charter Schools, and The Innovative School District.
The state board of education is scheduled to meet on July 5 via conference call.