(RALEIGH) -- A representative from the Office of State Budget and Management spoke before an appropriations committee at the General Assembly on Wednesday. Education was one of the topics that was brought up.

During the discussion, Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt of Asheville noted a problem a lack of jobs in education. "One of the real problems they have in the public schools is they're simply not filling expired positions, so you've got a whole other batch of people where you have jobs unfilled and we saw an article in the paper the other day about how teacher's aides are just disappearing in the public schools now as the class size goes up," said Nesbitt.

The state budget office presented information showing agencies have received nearly $24 million from a severance cash reserve. This translates to about 1,630 full-time positions.