State Department of Education budget hearing spotlights career-ready grants, ARPA transitions and staff requests

The Joint Finance Preparation Committee on a budget hearing heard a multi-part presentation on the State Department of Education budget, funding flows and staffing needs, with Legislative Services analyst Jared Tetro and State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield outlining current balances, federal grant activity and several ongoing and one-time spending requests.

The department’s budget presentation covered personnel totals, dedicated funds, federal and ARPA grants and several enhancements the department has requested for 2026. Jared Tetro, Deputy Division Manager, Budget and Policy Analysis Division, Legislative Services Office, told the committee the Department of Education is organized into two program areas with 126.5 authorized full-time equivalent positions for the current year and that, as of the budget submission, 9.5 positions were vacant. He also said the department’s personnel costs have averaged about $13.5 million and the average personnel spend rate is roughly 83.4% of budgeted personnel authority.

The nut of the department’s fiscal picture, Tetro said, is several large, dedicated and federal funding streams that create year-to-year variance in actual spending. He highlighted that COVID-era funding (ARPA and CARES) and a recent surge of career-technical funds affected multi-year expenditure patterns. "The Department of Education was appropriated all ARPA and…