North Carolina has auditors who make sure taxpayer money is spent as intended. But what if the spending has little public benefit?

Lawmakers have typically left that question up to the agencies and nonprofit groups that receive the money. But this year, lawmakers decided to create their own watchdog to get those answers: the Program Evaluation Division.

The division will delve into how the state tackles wide-scale issues such as education and health care, and target smaller operations to find out whether the money spent has a real effect on the people served.

"It will not be as focused on management processes and financial controls," said state Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat who sponsored the legislation creating the division. "It will focus on more fundamental questions, such as 'Does this program still serve a fundamental purpose?' "

The legislation makes North Carolina the 46th state to put a program evaluation in place, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Lawmakers hired John Turcotte, 59, a veteran of two highly regarded program evaluation committees in Florida and Mississippi, to run North Carolina's program.

Turcotte was hired at a $135,000 annual salary and will be leading a staff of 10. Lawmakers say the legislature is shifting existing resources to support the division. Clodfelter anticipates the program could produce as many as three analyses of major programs and five reviews of smaller services each year.

A sampling of recent reports by similar agencies in other states shows how they help lawmakers make policy and allocate funds:

* FLORIDA: A review of Florida's community colleges found that half the students taking required college preparatory classes were dropping out. The report said the community colleges need to do more to help the students succeed or do a better job steering them into workplace training programs so they emerge with a skill.

* KANSAS: An evaluation of a low-income housing program in Kansas found that too many new developments were being approved when renovations of existing buildings were more cost effective. It also found that rural communities with waiting lists for low-income housing have difficulty attracting developers.

* UTAH: A review of higher education spending in Utah showed that public colleges and universities were overstating their personnel costs to help pay for other, underfunded expenses. Last year alone, the schools overstated their personnel costs by a combined $38 million to help pay for $29 million in other expenses.

Clodfelter said none of the recent scandals in the state legislature, such as the fall of former House Speaker Jim Black, drove the division's formation. Lawmakers have long sought a way to examine state programs to make sure they justify their existence, and a legislative study last year came up with the program evaluation division. Turcotte had been hired initially as a consultant to help with the study.

Wide support

North Carolina lawmakers voted in unison to create the division. State Auditor Les Merritt also signed off, saying it could complement his office's work.

"The legislature's new division is a welcomed piece of the pie, reporting on a program's performance directly to policy makers," Merritt said in a statement. "Being concerned with maintaining efficiency and effectiveness of existing programs, we welcome another set of eyes to evaluate goals and performance measures in state government."

An 18-member legislative committee that includes at least six members from the minority party will make a work plan of projects for the division to pursue. House Speaker Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, and Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, each select nine members from their respective chambers to serve.

Like nearly everything in government, the division will be scrutinized to see how much of its work will be influenced by politics. Already, Democrats appear to have more of a say in what it will take up, and Turcotte serves at the pleasure of legislative leaders.

Clodfelter said that the committee will work openly and in a bipartisan fashion. He said the work plan will be made public, as will the division's findings.

Republicans say they are on board for now, as long as the division shows a willingness to tackle programs and services regardless of who champions them.

"I would hope that they would," said Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican. "I think that's what many of us who supported it had in mind."

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