What Happened?
An independent audit of Braintree’s school district in Massachusetts laid out recommendations for outsourcing several departments and a technology upgrade to reduce spending and improve efficiency.
The Goal
While performing the audit, the third party analyzed the school district’s budgeting process, staffing system and non-educational operations. The audit revealed opportunities to improve various departments, with an estimated $450,000 annually in savings by working with private maintenance staff and a $39,000 cut in food service costs through outsourcing.
The audit also proposed cutting back on the number of hours food service providers work to reduce benefits the school district would be responsible for providing. Eliminating benefits for food service workers could save the district $60,000 each year.
Transportation Revamp
The audit also reviewed transportation strategies in place that service special needs students. The report recommended the district join a collaborative plan that would meet the needs of the student population while cutting costs by $100,000 annually.
Currently, Braintree hires bus drivers and leases buses to transport students to and from school. If the district were to privatize bus drivers and vehicles for regular education students, it would cost an estimated $154,000 more per year, compared to the significant savings it offers for transporting special needs students.
Outsourcing Buses
Saucon Valley School District in Pennsylvania is also considering privatizing its bus driver services. The school district asked for submissions from private transportation providers to help gain leverage during collective bargaining negotiations with the current bus drivers union. Once a private company’s bid is agreed upon, the figure will be presented to the union to see if it can be matched. Currently, the district allocates about $2.1 million its transportation budget and is looking to reduce it significantly.
Furthermore, in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, the school board has angered a local bus driver union with talks of privatizing the services. The school board estimates $600,000 could be saved each year if rural student transportation was outsourced to a private provider.
In Walled Lake, Michigan, the board of education has already approved the privatization of transportation services for students. The outsourcing strategy is predicted to generate $4.2 million in savings over the next three years, while still holding the third party provider accountable to state-required safety standards. The district’s current bus drivers will be formally laid off, but they will be offered jobs with the private company. The company has historically hired back at least 75 percent of current school district employees when outsourcing strategies launch.
Private bus driver companies are often able to provide services at lower costs than local unions because they are not required to offer retirement benefits to workers. The lower cost per driver is translated into significant savings for school districts experiencing high demands for cost-cutting throughout the budgets.
Educational Outsourcing Projects
Gov1 has followed other outsourcing and consolidation efforts across the country that impact maintenance and janitorial workers as well as legal service providers in schools.