GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 370

Short Title:  GPAC/Reorganize Dept. of Public Instruction.        (Public)
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Sponsors: Senator Martin of Guilford.
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Referred to:  Government Performance Audit.
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February 24, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT A RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE TO REORGANIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION INTO THREE MAJOR FUNCTIONS TO PROVIDE IMPROVED COORDINATION AND SERVICE DELIVERY.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that certain functional groups in the Department of Public Instruction are not logically grouped and that this misgrouping results in unnecessary management positions and in resources spent unnecessarily on the coordination of activities. The Deputy State Superintendent has a span of control of eight, which is an excessive span of control.  The current structure injects an unnecessary layer of management between the State Superintendent and the Superintendent's most key senior managers; therefore:
(1)	The eight major areas that report to the Deputy State Superintendent are consolidated into the following three function groups:
a.	Program and Teacher Service – This group shall include Curriculum and Instruction, Vocational Education, Media Services, Student Services, and Exceptional Children, in Program Services; Transportation, Child Nutrition, School Planning, and Plant Operations in Auxiliary Services; Teacher Education, Teacher Certification, and Personnel Relations, in Personnel Services; and Supervision of the Technical Assistance Centers.
		The General Assembly finds that this consolidation increases coordination among the many consultant groups in the Department that deliver service to local school administrative units.  This structure also helps to support the transformation of service delivery recommended by the Government Performance Audit Committee.  Also, it establishes a link between the desired quality in programs and the teachers that deliver programs to students.
		The Assistant Superintendent positions that oversee Auxiliary Services and Personnel Services are reassigned to executive director level positions at the same salary level.
		The Elementary, Middle Grades, High School, and Administration Consultants that report to the Assistant Superintendent are transferred to the Curriculum and Instruction area, so as to reduce the number of professionals that report directly to the Assistant Superintendent over this group.
b.	Financial and Internal Support Services – This group shall include State Accounting Services, School Business Services, and Fiscal Control Services, in Financial Services; and Internal Operations, in the Deputy Superintendent's Office.  The General Assembly finds that Financial Services already handles the internal accounting and financial responsibilities of the Department and that all internal support services are consolidated by moving the personnel, purchasing, and mailroom responsibilities to this group.
c.	Research and Development Group – The General Assembly finds that this group should remain separate to focus attention on student and local school administrative unit performance standards and improvement.
(2)	Management Information Services (MIS) shall be organized as a separate unit reporting to the Deputy State Superintendent.  The General Assembly finds that placing this function at this level in the organization enables MIS to provide services effectively across the Department.  It improves access to information technology and should result in more valuable uses of information technology being developed for more programs.
(3)	The following functional areas throughout the Department shall be streamlined as follows:
a.	Because the group performs financial functions, the Public School Insurance group in Auxiliary Services are transferred to Financial Services.
b.	In order to consolidate and increase coordination of the Child Nutrition programmatic and financial audit functions, three Child Nutrition Auditor positions in the Child Nutrition group in Auxiliary Services are transferred to the Child Nutrition Audit group in Financial Reporting/Audit in the School Business Services area of Financial Services.
c.	Two ADM Auditors in the Student Information Management Area of Financial Services are transferred to the School Budgets group in Financial Services.  These auditors shall report to the School Budgets Chief Consultant.  Because school budget preparation is highly dependent upon ADM information, grouping these functions results in better coordination of information timing and flow.
d.	Two Exceptional Children ADM Auditors in the Student Information Management area of Financial Services are transferred to the Exceptional Children group in Program Services because Exceptional Children Consultants deal with exceptional children concerns on a daily basis and can provide valuable information to the ADM Auditors.  These two positions shall report to the Director of Exceptional Children.
e.	The Citizen Affairs Director position in Internal Operations is transferred to the communications group in the Superintendent's Office.
f.	In order to strengthen the user support function in MIS for users in local school administrative units, all employees in the Department that provide system support for MIS users in local school administrative units are grouped as follows:
1.	The Applications Programmer and Information Systems Coordinator positions in the Personnel Relations area of Personnel Services are transferred to MIS.  These positions shall continue to provide user support for the system that provides human resource data on employees of local school administrative units.
2.	A SIMS Special Project Manager, five SIMS user support positions, and one associated clerical position, in the Student Information Management area of Financial Services are transferred to Management Information Systems.  These positions shall continue to provide user support for the Student Information Management System.
3.	The Student Information Management Chief Consultant position and one associated clerical position are eliminated because all functions in Student Information Management have been transferred to other groups.
4.	The Information Center Unit is transferred to Financial Services because the statistical analysis the unit provides is most appropriately located in Finance.
Sec. 2.  The base budget of the  Department of Public Instruction is reduced by eighty-six thousand one hundred ninety-seven dollars ($86,197) for the 1993-94 fiscal year and eighty-six thousand one hundred ninety-seven dollars ($86,197) for the 1994-95 fiscal year due to the decrease in personnel positions mandated by Section 1 of this act.
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.