State board director defends growing Office of the State Board budget; highlights $15 million workforce grant request

Kevin Campbell, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, presented the Office of the State Board of Education’s budget to the Joint Finance Corporation Committee and detailed the agency’s structure, funding sources and recent growth.

The Office of the State Board, Campbell said, now comprises three budgeted programs: OSB Administration (49.75 FTE, base $45,100,000), IT and Data Management (27 FTE, base $8,900,000) and the School Safety and Security Program (7.5 FTE, base $1,300,000). Campbell said OSB currently has 84.25 authorized FTP with eight vacancies and a five‑year average authorized FTP of 55.95, a figure he said is skewed downward by recent transfers into OSB.

OSB Executive Director Joshua Whitworth said the largest enhancement in the FY 2026 request is the governor’s proposed one‑time “public bridal workforce capacity grant,” a $15,000,000 request intended to expand institutional capacity for workforce training. “This grant will allow institutions to build infrastructure capacity if it relates to workforce training and in demand careers and incentivize institutions to partner with local community members to raise funds for the projects,” Whitworth said, summarizing the proposal’s matching requirement as…