State Board requests $15 million workforce capacity grant, seeks more IT and safety staff in FY2026 budget

Kevin Campbell, Budget and Policy Analyst with the Legislative Services Office, presented the Office of the State Board of Education (OSB) FY2026 budget to the Joint Finance Committee, outlining staff increases and a suite of enhancement requests the Board is seeking.

Campbell told the committee the office currently has 84.25 authorized FTEs with eight vacancies and that OSB "has 49.75" FTEs in administration and 27 FTEs in IT and data management, noting recent transfers of positions into the Board. He said federal COVID and ARPA funds have distorted recent appropriations and expenditures but that personnel costs are the largest ongoing expense.

Joshua Whitworth, Executive Director of the State Board of Education, told members the agency has centralized several functions—internal audit, risk management, IT and the school safety program—to gain efficiencies and consistent policies across institutions. "One of the primary motives of the board’s directive is to look at systemness," Whitworth said, describing the goal of reducing siloed activity and improving coordination.

Whitworth described the single largest FY2026 enhancement the governor proposed: a one‑time $15 million public‑private workforce capacity grant intended to help institutions build infrastructure for workforce‑training programs in high‑demand careers. Under the proposal, Boise State University, Idaho…