The school district’s budget was the sole discussion item on the table for the Board of Education’s three-hour March 10 meeting. (See ‘These are my tax dollars, and I say that’s wrong’)
Cuts in school funding from the state isn’t new news, and for weeks, the board has listened to analyses and studies presented by district staff. The analyses focus on cuts in school services and non-union staff, and are based on suggestions given to the school district during budget input meetings and via email.
The Review has collected and condensed the analyses in an effort to make the budgeting process more black and white.
What follows are summaries of one third of the analyses and the date they were presented to the board. Complete analyses, are available on the district’s Website: www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
To watch past meetings, visit www.OrionONTV.org.
Elementary specials ? Feb. 24
The district investigated two scenarios in eliminating ‘specials? teachers (i.e. music, art, physical education and media). The first scenario ? reducing specials teachers from 24.5 to 17.5 ? would save the district $362,610 the first year and $487,500 each year thereafter. Per their contract, elementary homeroom teachers receive 225 minutes of planning time per week, which is achieved by sending students to specials teachers. Keeping 17 specials teachers would allow the district to meet this contractual need, with teachers utilizing 25 planning minutes prior to the school day, one day per week.
The second scenario ? eliminating all 24.5 specials teachers ? would save the district $1,174,776 the first year and $1,582,750 each year thereafter. In this scenario, savings would be offset by the cost of replacing specials teachers with 15 substitutes in order for homeroom teachers to receive their 225 contractual minutes for planning.
Alternate school schedules / calendars ? Feb. 24
Currently, the district’s 41 bus routes cost about $5,000 per day. A common calendar between all schools would decrease the number of days and costs. According to the analysis facilitator, exact savings are difficult to calculate without preparing a detailed model; however a common year-round calendar with intersessions would add $75,000 per year.
Coordinated purchasing ? Feb. 24
The district’s current purchasing practice is that each employee is responsible for pricing needed items like teaching supplies, office supplies and custodial supplies. The district has the option to implement coordinated purchasing through a purchasing department or identifying preferred vendors and bids.
A purchasing department would require additional staff.
According to the analysis facilitator, specific savings with preferred vendors is difficult to determine, but the district could save between $19,437 and $64,790 per year.
Consolidation of services ? Feb. 24
The district is investigating consolidation of service with other local districts for services including operational manager positions, transportation, technology system administration and instructional technology. Districts? differences in software, contracts, procedures and policies need to be minimized to expedite consolidation. Cost savings are yet to be determined.
Administrators wouldn’t reveal who was on the study’s committee or with which school districts they were working.
Distance learning ? Feb. 24
2009/10 student overloads cost the district $108,120. Distance learning ? at a cost of $37,400 ? could alleviate class overloads, potentially saving the district $70,720.
Employee retirement incentive ? Feb. 24
An early retirement incentive plan is already in motion for teachers in the district. If 20 of 68 qualifying teachers accept the offer, the district will save $1,365,992 in the first year and nearly $6.8 million after eight years.
Seven administrators in the district qualify. If two accept the offer, the district would lose $88,194.
Furlough days ? Feb. 24
Positions eligible for furlough days include teachers, social workers, speech pathologists, counselors, secretaries, principals, directors, supervisors, central office administrators, central office support staff, custodians, grounds and maintenance, mechanics, clerks, some computer technicians, and system administrators. The cost of these employees per day is approximately $150,000, which the district would save per implemented furlough day. Underemployment compensation obligations could offset savings by around 10 percent.
Privatization ? Feb. 24
No detailed cost savings were listed in this study except ‘the privatization of any operational area in the district may result in the layoff of staff.? The current cost of 52 custodians and four buildings and grounds employees and supplies is $6,151,068. The current cost of 66 transportation employees and supplies is $3,924,030. The current cost of food service employees and supplies is $2,408,575.
Central office support staff ? Feb. 24
The central office’s 12 support staff currently cost the district $982,634 in salary and benefits. The most common areas of outsourcing central office staff were in benefit and payroll administration, according to the analysis.
Outsourcing benefit administration could save around $37,000.
There is no cost savings associated with outsourcing payroll administration.
Middle school concept ? Feb. 24
If the district implemented the middle school concept, first taken ‘off the shelf? April 2009, it would save $499,730 the first year and $666,250 each year thereafter. The three-month period left to complete the plan is considerably shorter than the 15-month original time lead, and the ‘aggressive? six-month time lead.
Revenue enhancements ? Feb. 24
The district could enhance revenues through fundraising, food service, advertising, school facility usage, going ‘green,? selling excess property, endowments and charging for services like premium student parking. According to the study, most ideas were feasible but none stood to make ‘a significant financial impact on an $83 million budget.?
Building capacities / grade configurations / facility use ? Feb. 24
Closing all three middle schools and housing students at the high school in split shift is feasible and would save the district $1.25 million.
Consolidating three middle schools into two is not feasible. The maximum number of students in the district’s two biggest middle schools, Waldon and Scripps, is 1,770 and the current middle school student population is 1,820.
Housing fifth through eighth grade students in middle school, and closing two elementary schools is feasible and would save the district $1.65 million.
Creating a fifth and six grade building, and a seventh and eighth grade middle school is not feasible because no one school will accommodate those student populations.
Closing one elementary school is feasible and would save the district $825,000.
The cost of Moose Tree Nature Preserve is $79,200, which the district would save if it closed Moose Tree.
Technology hardware / software ? Feb. 24
Currently, most the district’s computers are seven-years-old or older. Replacing all 3,000 of them would cost approximately $4 million. The cost to lease the same number of computers is $875,000 per year for five years, for a total of $4,375,000, which is more expensive in the end but allows for ‘wiggle room? in the current budget.