Department of Education officials are trying to figure out how to make up a more than $7 million shortfall in the operating budget lawmakers approved for the department last month.
Lawmakers trimmed the DOE’s proposed $1.4 billion budget, choosing not to fund various initiatives and operations, including money for school accreditations, auditing staff and a phased plan to provide all students with laptop computers.
The state budget — which has been sent to Gov. Neil Abercrombie for consideration — includes $1.39 billion in general funds for the DOE in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
"The department is going through a major process to relook at all of these items, prioritize them, determine how we move forward and how we fund them," DOE Chief Financial Officer Amy Kunz said at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.
Kunz said the shortfall isn’t "substantial" in the context of the overall budget, but that many of the areas cut are priorities that align with the department’s strategic plan.
For example, the fiscal 2014 budget doesn’t include $703,000 requested for accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges; $1.2 million to help facilitate a transition to a new accountability system to replace federal requirements under No Child Left Behind; or $590,000 for teacher improvement services, including components of a new evaluation system and teacher sabbaticals.
The reduced budget also stymies the DOE’s plans to roll out digital devices such as laptops and tablets to all public school students. Abercrombie’s draft budget had proposed more than $29 million over the next two fiscal years for the initiative.
The money would have been used to lease the devices and help schools shift to the Common Core State Standards — a set of national curriculum standards and student assessments for reading and math. The DOE has said the devices are critical to its transition to the new curriculum and assessments.
Instead, the DOE will get about $8 million to pilot device initiatives in some schools.
Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi assured Board of Education members that the department would stick to the strategic plan in coming up with its budget implementation strategy. (With student achievement at its core, the strategic plan in part outlines targets and reforms to ensure all students graduate ready to succeed in college or careers.)
"We are very clear that the strategic plan is our focus, it’s our priority. So when we go through this exercise, we’re going to try to figure out how we’re going to manage the budget that we have," Matayoshi said. "We will find a way, within the constraints that we have. … It may be painful, but certainly, having a common vision, common strategic plan, common measures with the board assures that the alignment, when it comes to the allocation of resources, is clear."
Kunz said she expects to have a plan ready sometime next month that identifies possible alternative funding sources for high-priority initiatives.
