The Office of Public Instruction bungled a key program to boost starting teacher pay, and the number of districts using it recently fell by nearly half, according to a report Thursday to a legislative committee.

One problem is that a hard deadline in state law means it would be nearly impossible to make adjustments now given the fiscal year concludes in about a week, according to OPI.

“OPI dropped the ball on this, did not communicate with the school districts, and as a consequence, one of the more important programs we have for addressing starting teacher pay was underutilized,” said Rep. David Bedey, R-Hamilton, chairperson of the interim budget committee on education.

However, legislators said they expect the situation will improve going forward.