House Education Budget Cuts: A Little Context

Selected Budget Reductions House Education Budget 2009-2010
Proposed Reduction From 2008-09 Funding Level	Percentage Reduction from Current Workforce	#State-Funded Positions 2007-08	#State-Funded Positions 2000-01	Percentage Increase 2000-2008	#State-Funded  Positions as % of All Positions in Classification
6005 Classroom Teachers	7.0 %	85,575	72, 087	19%	87%
4,663 Teacher Assistants	20%	22,441	21,734	3%	76%
354 Instructional Support Staff	3%	10,316	8,415	22%	75%
187 Assistant Principals	10%	1,908	1,788	7%	66%

Source: North Carolina Public Schools Statistical Profile for Years 2001 and 2008.

NCAE has declared war on the House’s proposed cuts to the FY2009-2010 budget for public schools. The rhetoric and the numbers have been flying about, so the above table gives a little context to the proposals.

Raising the class size by two will eliminate 6,000 teachers. However according the UNC General Administration, North Carolina is facing a teacher deficit of 5,400 teachers this year and 5,200 teachers in 2010. Thus, with likely retirements and re-hires my guess is the 6,000 figure is likely to significantly lower.

The elimination of 4,600 teacher assistants is the most significant reduction. However it should be noted even with the cuts, the state would still be funding 17,780 teacher assistants. In addition if funded to current levels, local and federal sources would be providing funding for approximately another 7,200 more teacher assistants.

Instructional Support Staff.  The 3 percent reduction is likely to include counselors, media instructors and librarians. Instructional support staff has increased 30 percent since 2000. Over the same time period the number of teachers increased 19 percent.

Assistant Principals.  A total of 1,908 assistant principals were funded by the state in 2008. Local and Federal funds accounted for approximately another 1,000 positions. A proposed 10 percent reduction would still leave NC with over 1,700 state-funded assistant principals statewide.