Schools Hire More Non-Classroom Personnel

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Schools Hire More Non-Classroom Personnel

Special Report - June 10, 2009
North Carolina’s public schools have experienced a greater percentage of growth in non-classroom personnel positions than in student enrollment over the past nine years, according to a new Spotlight report by the John Locke Foundation. Written by John Locke Foundation education policy analyst, Terry Stoops, the report notes that school districts “continue to add administrative, non-instructional or instructional support positions [such as consultants] at rates that far exceed enrollment growth.”

“It’s important to keep this rapid growth of non-classroom jobs in mind as N.C. House budget writers recommend cutting positions to help fill the state government's budget hole,” said Stoops in a press release. “While North Carolina's public school enrollment has grown about 13 percent since 2000, the number of school personnel has grown by nearly 18 percent. Much of that growth has been outside the classroom.”

According to the report, North Carolina public schools have an average of one employee for every 7 students. More specifically, school districts hire one teacher for every 14 students, one teacher’s assistant for every 45 students, and one administrative position for every 167 students. The report notes that since 2000, public school districts have added 435 new consultants and nearly 2,000 “other professionals.” Stoops points out that most of these positions have “no direct impact on classroom instruction.”

“Unfortunately, school districts across North Carolina have invested heavily in support services and staff, rather than classroom instruction,” Stoops explained. “Schools that spent more in these areas had less money to provide for classroom instruction. Diverting resources from the classroom to supplementary services and staff may have contributed to lower test scores among sampled high schools.”

The report offers several possible reasons for the increase in school personnel growth in the state, including efforts to lower class sizes, as well as requirements in state and federal programs, such as “No Child Left Behind.”

“Regardless of the reasons for personnel growth, school districts should pay special attention to spending on personnel because salary and benefits represent the largest single category of expenditure for public education in North Carolina,” Stoops writes in the report. “Last year, school districts spent $9.9 billion on salary and benefits, accounting for approximately 83 percent of the state’s total expenditures on public education.”

He recommends that school districts “tie funds for the salary and benefits of teachers, administrators and other public school personnel to various performance measures,” such as test scores, and “increase or decrease personnel based closely on yearly enrollment changes.”