State Board office seeks new IT hires, $15M workforce grant and funding shifts as budget grows

Budget and staffing increases at the Office of the State Board of Education (OSB) were the focus of questions Tuesday as agency leaders detailed recent transfers into the office and a slate of new budget requests, including a one‑time $15 million public–private workforce capacity grant proposed by the governor.

The requests and organizational changes matter because OSB now oversees functions that were previously housed elsewhere — notably IT and data management, school safety and security, internal audit and risk management — and the office asks the Legislature to fund new staff and one‑time projects tied to those responsibilities. Budget and Policy Analyst Kevin Campbell told the Joint Finance Committee that “Idaho Code section 33 1 0 1 creates the Board for the General Supervision, Governance, and Control of all state educational institutions,” and that the board has used its policy authority to centralize several functions under the Office of the State Board.

Campbell said OSB currently has 84.25 authorized full‑time positions with eight vacancies and a five‑year average authorized count of 55.95 FTPs, a difference he attributed to several recent transfers into the office. He also outlined a history of large federal COVID and ARPA awards that distorted multi‑year appropriation/expenditure comparisons.

OSB Executive Director Joshua Whitworth told the committee the centralization aims to reduce duplicative work across institutions and improve consistency in areas such as audit and risk management. “One of the primary motives of the board’s directive is to look at systemness,” Whitworth said, using the board’s term for coordinated system‑level activity. He described bringing internal audit, risk management and school safety work under OSB to ensure consistent policies and supported staff who now oversee K‑12 and higher education systems.

The largest single new request in the FY 2026 package is the governor’s proposed one‑time Public‑Private Workforce Capacity Grant: $15 million to help institutions expand infrastructure tied to workforce training in in‑demand careers. Whitworth said funds would be awarded to institutions that raise private matching funds at a 1:1 ratio for Boise State University, Idaho State University and the University of Idaho, and at a 1:2 ratio for Lewis‑Clark State College and the four community colleges, and that the awards would prioritize programs identified by technical advisory and business committees as high‑demand (examples cited: mining, forestry, welding, fabrication, mechatronics and nuclear technology related to Idaho’s initiatives).

Whitworth and analysts also detailed the office’s other FY 2026 requests: 14 ongoing enhancements that include five new positions (an IT systems and infrastructure engineer, a database engineer, an education effectiveness program manager, an education policy analyst and an Empowering Parents program analyst), support for behavioral threat assessment teams in K‑12 (a request that the director said requires legislation and currently has a legislative sponsor), and two one‑time requests for replacement vehicles and computers. Campbell highlighted the $30 million recurring Empowering Parents grant that was appropriated in FY 2024 as an example of recent large additions to the office budget.

Several lawmakers asked for more detail before agreeing to new hires or program base increases. Representative Petzke asked why the centralized agency has grown and whether funds would be better spent directly at institutions. Whitworth replied that centralizing functions such as audit and risk management allows OSB to identify efficiencies and set system‑wide policies, and he noted the work supporting roughly 300,000 students across K‑12 and higher‑education systems as a driver for IT support and cybersecurity needs. Senator Cook asked for contractor expenditure data and backlog specifics for IT work, saying she wants performance targets and a clearer return‑on‑investment picture.

On Independent Study Idaho — a long‑running program that offers flexible scheduling and coursework to nontraditional students — Whitworth said the program is largely fee funded (about $160 per credit) but that fee revenue has not kept pace with program costs; the agency is proposing an adjustment to the base funding model. Representative Petzke and Senator Cook questioned enrollment and value for money; Campbell and Whitworth agreed to provide more program detail and usage statistics to the committee.

Members also pressed OSB about whether any appropriated state funds finance DEI‑related centers or programs. Whitworth and board members clarified that the majority of the programs under review are supported by student fees, not direct appropriations; Senator Wintrow reiterated that, according to working‑group reports, “no appropriated funds [are] going for any of the program services or centers that are focused on historically marginalized communities.”

Committee members asked the office for follow‑up materials: an IT plan and backlog schedule, the list of program types that would be eligible for the governor’s workforce grant, and clarification about which FY 2026 requests require accompanying legislation. Whitworth and staff said they will provide the requested details and that transfers into OSB were net zero across source agencies for the positions cited.

The committee did not take formal action on the OSB requests during this session but scheduled further review in work groups and follow‑up information for upcoming budget decisions.

Looking ahead, Whitworth said OSB will continue to refine priorities with the board and institutions and work with the committee on requested data and clarifications.