Innovative Solutions to Reduce District Expenses

[Chef Dave]

I thought it might be interesting to start this thread.

I had previously started a thread on:
How are higher gas prices affecting your district:
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5804

From what I have read of your responses and from what I have found on-line,
Higher gas prices are making districts:

1) Consolidate or eliminate bus routes

2) Rezone attendance boundaries

3) Raid general funds which pay for textbooks, new computers, field trips, and extracurricular activities

4) Eliminate new teacher positions

The problem, as I understand it, will not be getting better in the near future. Traditionally, gas prices have always dropped by about 20% after Memorial Day. This year, gas prices are expected to continue rising.

So ... what can we do about it?

I've been looking on-line for innovative cost cutting measures to help my district.

As a chef instructor, I would like to suggest the following.

Stabilize Your Food Costs:

Wholesale food costs in the restaurant industry have risen 7.4% since last year. This is the single biggest increase we've seen in 25 years according to the National Restaurant Association. Retail food costs are even higher, having risen an average of 25%.

Many states have some sort of state cooperative for the wholesale purchase of food. In Arizona, we are legally required to request at least 3 public bids for any expenditure over $5000. Any bids that are accepted are locked in either for one semester or for an entire year.

Last year I put out bids for Holsum, Shamrock, and Sysco foods. It was an administrative pain in the you know what because I had to compare the price of each item offered by each company.

Invariably each company had different packaging ... so to identify the cheapest product, I literally had to calculate the cost per ounce per food product.

On the brighter side, this wound up saving me money. When gas prices began to soar, my food prices were locked in. Despite whimpering from some of my suppliers as the price of dairy products, eggs, meat, and flour went up, I was able to purchase these products under the old contract.

This contract expired at the end of the school year and I am shifting wholesale purchasing to our state cooperative, the Aspin food service. Use of a state cooperative will benefit my district in a number of ways.

1) The cooperative will be responsible for all public bidding which will eliminate a great deal of paperwork both for myself as well as our district business office.

2) As more districts join the cooperative, our overall purchasing power increases which gives us a better position for negotiating lower prices.

3) As with the public bids I conducted with the assistance of our district business office last year, our food prices will be locked in for the year. Regardless of how much prices increase during the 2008-09 school year, our food purchase costs will remain constant.

If your district cafeterias and high school culinary arts programs are not already a member of a state wholesale food cooperative, you may want to consider joining one. In Arizona we have the Aspin Food Service. In Texas there is ARAMARK. I don't know about other states.

I also found this at Lubbock on line: http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/050308/loc_274958871.shtml

How to Reduce Transportation Costs:

1) The Bovina Independent School District in Texas is switching over from diesel fueled 60 passenger buses to smaller 22 passenger buses.

Why?

Larger buses run on diesel fuel which is more expensive than unleaded gas. Smaller buses run on unleaded gas.

2) Bus drivers in Bovina have been directed not to idle their buses while waiting to pick up students at school. Once drivers park their buses to wait for school dismissal, they turn off their engines.

3) To save money on bus driver salaries, the district has offered incentive pay for teachers and administrators to drive buses. I once earned supplemental pay as an elementary teacher driving a school bus in central Texas. The district provided free training. I left my car at the transportation depot, ran an AM route, and parked my bus at school. After school, I ran two PM routes, returned the bus to the depot, and picked up my car. Driving a school bus in the late 80's and early 90's added about $600 to my monthly paycheck.

Outsource the Management of School Finances

Instead of having a business office to manage school finances, the Brooklyn Center District outsourced this job to a school management service.

The employment of an in-house district business manager cost the district about $120,000 in salary and benefits. Use of a financial management service cost the district $62,000 to perform the same kinds of duties, including payroll, budgeting, accounting, enrollment projections, and negotiation and supervision of benefits.

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/15090726.html

Cut Back on the Number of School Days
The Maccray school district in Minnesota has gone to a four day school week. They've also lowered their thermostats to 60 degrees. They've lost 23 days of instruction but are saving $65,000 in transportation and heating expenses.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355490,00.html

I'm not sure about cutting back 23 days ... but I'm sure there are also a great many more cost cutting ideas out there.

I look forward to hearing from you.

[upnorthteacher]

Those are some great ideas, Dave.
I know that my district is planning lunch menus based on what government commodity foods are available. For those items, they pay only shipping costs. I will check into the state cooperative.

Fuel costs are hurting us quite a bit. We are spending so much on bussing students that money has to come from elsewhere. We have one student per square mile, so changing routes or vehicle sizes won't be very helpful. Our adminstrators are looking into using vans to transport athletes for away events. Our high school is so small that many teams have only 12-15 students.

Our maintenance director has removed one of the two or three fluorescent tubes in each fixture in classrooms, and switched to a more efficient type of tube. Also, any light fixtures in the building that weren't high efficiency rated have been replaced. All coffeemakers, microwaves, and other small appliances have been removed from classrooms. The roof of our building will also be reinsulated this summer to help with heating costs.

If we could convince our school board to outsource financial management, that would be great! There has also been discussion of our district and other small districts sharing employees for some jobs: special ed director, school psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, etc. Many teachers feel that two districts could share one district administrator, as well.

There has been some talk among teachers of going to four day school weeks. Heating costs in this part of the country are a huge part of the budget. I doubt that the Wisconsin dpi would ever allow it, though. We are supposed to have 180 days of instruction, with different minimum hours for different grade levels. It would be difficult to get the hours in four day weeks. The Wisconsin legislature has authorized financial assistance for districts who bus a certain percentage of students more than ten miles, but I don't think it will be enough to make a big difference.

[Boxcar]

I think your ideas are excellant. I can totally get behind four day weeks. I think five days a wekk from 6am to 6pm is a lot for the kids in preschool. Although, I know they'd be in daycare anyway. So, I don't know... It'd be really good for me though. A three day weekend is really sweet!

[Bananas]

This is a sidebar as this is not related to a district, but it does relate to reducing costs. Son just called from his second day of internship. He got 3 A's and 2 A-'s his last trimester! Yea!! Since they do trimesters, it is a heavy load, and he worked about 35 hours each week between four jobs. Proud mommy! Happy son!

He just found out that he will be working on a research project. With rising transportation costs, the corporation is looking for ways to productively hold the meetings for a lesser expense. He will be checking out the feasibility and savings cost of holding tele-something conferences. The wall in a room acts like the video screen, with great resolution, in holding the meetings. Something like that. That way, the teams can meet in their own places on a global basis within the corporation. That sounded cool. That would also allow them to be home with their families, which goes a long way with morale for the entire family!

[Boxcar]

That sounds really interesting. What a great oppertunity for your son! :) Congrats to him.

[Chef Dave]

Here's something interesting I found:

Build energy efficient schools.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that our schools spend an average of $175 per student per year on energy costs. A school of 4,000 students would cost $700,000 to heat or cool.

An energy efficient school would use 30% less energy and save the district $212,000 per year.

For example, at my school we have programmable central air and heating which is controlled by the office. Heating or cooling clicks on at a preset time and goes off at a preset time. This eliminates wasteful usage. Teachers working in their rooms during non-school hours have a manual override button that we can press which is good for 30 minutes.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energysmartschools/howto_planning.html