One way to solve FTE growth...

By David Montgomery
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 - 10:25:19 am CST

...declare it doesn't exist.

A pre-filed bill submitted by the Bureau of Finance and Management, HB1052, would revise the definition of full-time equivalent to not include student teaching and research. Gov. Mike Rounds specifically defended those FTEs in his State of the State address, arguing they don't reflect growth of government and do good things for the state.

Democratic leaders criticized general FTE growth — although saying federally funded FTEs, like some research positions, should stay untouched — and said the state should offset growth in one area with reductions in another.

If this bill passes it wouldn't change the number of people receiving state wages, but it would lower the number that many people use to determine whether government is growing.

In many ways it's the opposite of the approach Rounds defended in his speech, where members of various state boards were declared to be FTEs in the name of openness and transparency. Again, there, nothing changed in terms of who was working for the state. But the number of FTEs did change.

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1 comment(s)

caheidelberger wrote on Jan 13, 2010 1:36 PM:

" Clever trick! I guess this means my job really doesn't matter. ;-) "

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