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 described in the budget presentation.

Campbell and Whitworth outlined other recent and proposed changes to OSB’s responsibilities. Recent years included a $30,000,000 ongoing Empowering Parents grant (FY 2024) and transfers of IT, internal audit and risk‑management functions into OSB. Among FY 2026 requests Campbell listed 14 ongoing enhancements, including five new positions (an IT systems/infrastructure engineer, a database engineer, an education effectiveness program manager, an education policy analyst and an empowering parents program analyst), implementation support for behavioral threat assessment teams in K–12 schools, and a revision to the Independent Study Idaho base funding model. Whitworth said some positions and programs were transferred to OSB from other state entities and that some transfers were net zero to the state’s workforce totals.

The presentation described OSB’s fund mix and special‑purpose accounts. Campbell said 86.7% of OSB’s budget is trustee and benefit payments, including transfers and direct grants; 4.7% is pay and benefits; 5.1% is operating expenditures (largely professional services); and 3.5% is capital outlay. He noted that federal ARPA and COVID funds in recent years distorted multi‑year comparisons, citing a non‑cognizable adjustment of $76,000,000 in FY 2021, a base reduction and reversion in FY 2022, and reappropriation in FY 2023.

On Independent Study Idaho, Whitworth described it as a flexible delivery option for non‑traditional students that allows learners to take courses at their own pace. Whitworth said the program is “mostly funded by fees” (about $160 per credit) and serves a few hundred students annually; he said program fee revenue has been insufficient to cover rising costs and that the budget request includes funding to stabilize the program’s base.

Committee members pressed Whitworth and analysts for follow‑up materials. Representative Petzke asked for an overall plan explaining why centralized staffing and FTP counts have increased and whether services would be better delivered at institutions. Whitworth said centralization was intended to reduce duplication (internal audit, risk management, IT and school safety) and to provide support for rural districts without local IT capacity. Representative Petzke and Senator Cook asked for a written IT plan, contractor expense detail, and a clearer accounting of maintenance backlogs tied to the agency’s requested infrastructure positions.

Representative Tanner and others asked whether any FY 2026 requests require underlying legislation. Whitworth and Campbell said the behavioral threat assessment teams request requires legislation and has a sponsor in committee. Whitworth also said he would supply (or coordinate supplying) a list of programs eligible for the workforce capacity grant and additional details on which requests will need legislation or rule changes. He told committee members the board and staff would follow up on the committee’s specific requests for information.

Whitworth and board president Dr. Clark introduced OSB staff in the hearing room and said they were available to respond to questions. The committee closed the OSB discussion after requesting several follow‑ups: the agency’s IT plan and contractor expenditures, program eligibility for the one‑time workforce grant, a profile and metrics for Independent Study Idaho, and clarification on which budget requests need statute or rule changes.

Whitworth and Campbell emphasized that much of the growth in personnel resulted from consolidating functions under the board’s authority and from moving programs into OSB’s organizational structure; Campbell reminded members that several funds OSB uses carry statutory or rule‑driven limitations on allowable expenditures.