What Happened?
Three school districts near Mariemont, Ohio, recently signed an agreement to buy natural gas from Hess Corporation as one entity, expecting a 30 percent reduction in natural gas costs. The school districts plan to have their student transportation vehicles run on natural gas rather than standard diesel gas, and are buying through a consortium-type partnership to enjoy further cost savings.
The Goal
Mariemont City School District, Forest Hills Local School District and Indian Hill Exempted Village School District have all signed onto the collaboration. The school districts are seeking to take advantage of volume pricing which would allow the natural gas provider to offer the commodity at a lower price when guaranteed business from all the parties involved.
The collaborative strategy is building off existing shared services between the school districts in the area. Mariemont and Indian Hill schools, for example, already offer shaed educational programs that enable students to take computer, math or science classes at any participating location to ensure class sizes are large enough for the courses to be maintained.
Mariemont and Forest Hills also share bus service with students at Scarlet Oaks vocational school, while consolidating maintenance contracts for all schools in the partnership to cover heating, air condition and ventilation demands. Furthermore, Indian Hill and Forest Hills created a healthcare consortium with five other school districts in the area to significantly reduce health insurance costs for faculty and staff through volume purchasing.
Merger Study
Other municipalities across the state and country are interested in cutting school district costs through consolidation strategies and shared services. The Shelby County Educational Service Center in Ohio is teaming up with three other educational service centers to determine what a merging of services could provide to each district and what savings may be generated. Funded by a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development, the study will:
- Analyze the top performing Ohio educational service centers
- Predict the costs and potential savings of a full merger
- Identify programming options
- Estimate staff and resources required for the shared services
- Publish public information materials to generate support and feedback
The study will look at three possible options for the school districts: maintaining the status quo, merging a single shared facility or consolidation of all parties involved without eliminating existing facilities.
Trimming The Fat
As local governments throughout Ohio proactively seek out solutions for tight budget and increased public demands, the state has created the Local Government Innovation Fund program. The through the state’s Department of Development, the fund offers municipalities with financial assistance to deliver services to residents more efficiently. Up to $100,000 can be awarded to each project to launch a feasibility study before implementing any changes, while $100,000 may be granted in loan assistance and $500,000 for collaborative demonstration projects.
Since launching the program, the Ohio Department of Development has awarded 26 grants throughout the state totaling $2,968,671.
Merging of Assets
Gov1 has reported on several consolidation strategies that offer significant savings as well as improved delivery of services to residents.