NC Legislative Update: Funding Education for Students with Disabilities

On Tuesday, we posted The Arc of North Carolina Legislative Update. In it we briefly discussed public school funding for students with disabilities. We have additional information now to report. Yesterday, April 29, the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education heard from State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson. The following is the supplemental budget request from the State Board of Education regarding students with special needs: To reach funding at 230% of regular ADM funding the state would require an investment of over $100 million. The request for funding is $40,000,000. That is less than 1/3 of the needed amount. Here is the breakdown of the rest of the requests:


Globally Competitive Students
1. More at 4: Increase rate $550 (to $5,000) and add 5,000 slots (increases to 33,655) -- $40,760,250

2. Learn and Earn On-Line: Current budget $6.5 million + %5.5 million reserve. Proposal is to continue reserve and increase recurring budget $3 million. Expansion would allow summer courses -- $8,500,000

3. Literacy Coaches: Expand to an additional 100 middle schools --- $5,974,700
4. Critical Languages: Add 4 more on-line courses ($500,000 funded in FY 07-07) -- $500,000
5. Graduation Project: Continue teacher training and to develop the management tool to assist teachers in managing students’ projects -- $750,000
6. Learn and Earn: Expand with $640,000 non-recurring for 16 planning Grants. Full implementation at 20 new sites. Operating 74 sites -- $6,009,262

21st Century Professionals
1. Fund 1 full time mentor for every 15 newly hired teachers in their 1st through 3rd year of teaching and for every 15 new instructional support personnel in their 1st and 2nd year -- $37,795,000

Healthy and Responsible Students
1. Child Nutrition: Cover the higher cost of operations due to implementing nutritional standards and salary/other cost increases -- $20,000.000
Leadership
1. Principals for Hard-to-Staff Schools: New slary increments and signing bonuses for principals in hard-to-staff schools. Recommended by SBE Committee on School Leadership – 3,925,000
2. Accountability director/Data Coach: Fund 16 regional data coaches (2 per region) to help school systems use test data to improve student performance. Recommended by the Accountability Commission -- $2,283,728
3. Establish a Principal Leadership Academy: Funding to support preparation and ongoing training of school leaders based on 21st Century standards -- $1,266,170
4. Comprehensive Support for Districts and Schools: Personnel/assessment cost to implement comprehensive support to all school districts, (including initiatives in specific low-performing districts). Adds 47 positions with 9 being re-purposed. Include funding for the 15. 8 federal positions to be re-purposed to this initiative because the federal funding has been eliminated or significantly reduced -- $8,074,501

21st Century Systems
1. Transportation: Provides funds to cover the increasing cost of fuel and bus tires -- $25,898,000
2. Connectivity: Fully fund the needed target of $24 million. Funded $12 million in FY 07-08 -- $12,000,000
3. 21st Century Classrooms: Would equip 50% of middle school classrooms with digital white board, data projectors, computers, document cameras, and support personnel -- $59,823,504
4. Children with Disabilities: To reach funding @230% of regular ADM funding, it will require an additional $100 + million -- $40,000,000
5. Academically and Intellectually Gifted: Increases funding factor by 20% (from $1,083.32 to $1,299.98 -- $12,796,372
6. DSSF: Reduce allotment ratios by two and continue hold harmless to 16 original districts -- $86,231,773
7. Resource officers: Expand/require in Middle School. Governor included $4,464,884 in budget for FY 07-08 -- $6,200,000

Agency Request
1. Convert IT Contracts: Increase by 6 positions (EC level 1 support analysts – no EC funded, RACF Admin, Licensure support analyst, finance team project manager, student info/enterprise team systems analyst). $580,537
2. NC WISE: Fund the purchase of a parent portal for NC WISE. Allows parents access to their children’s school data. Improves parent/teacher communications and parent involvement. $1,400,000
3. Oracle License: The State has a contract for Oracle licenses; however, we are required to pay cost for licenses that were not converted to the State contract. These funds were not anticipated in our NC WISE budget -- $1,956,200
4. Plant Operation: Currently supported by receipts from school districts. Engineering services are needed throughout the State. This funding would allow all LEAs to be covered -- $826,164
5. Governor’s School: Additional funding for program ($20 per participant), a 5.5% pay increase for faculty an adding an office assistant -- $170,317
6. Migrate off Legacy Systems: 3rd year of the 3 year plan to upgrade systems -- $2,000,000


(Special thank you to Evelyn for this breakdown)