District Cost Cutting Ideas

This is part one - blogging live from the Event

Great start to the AEI Event on district cutting – setting the stage. The first point is that the easy cuts are gone. With drastic cuts in revenue coming, schools cannot lower thermostats, delay text book purchases, change light bulbs and streamline bus schedules to get to the cuts they have to make. It is going to have to come from staffing since that is 80% of the budget. How do schools accomplish that without hurting education?

Education costs have had 100 years of sustained, real per pupil expenditure growth. Only two plateaus in this growth; the depression and WWII. It cannot continue. The only answer is to increase productivity in our schools

Marguerite Roza - must convert all budgets into per unit terms. NY cuts $698 million and Sarasota cuts $40 million so which is worse. NY = $256 per pupil but Sarasota=$966 per pupil. Per pupil spending allows districts to model cuts and see where the most value can be created. Salary cuts, increasing students per teacher ratios, cutting aides etc can help in decision making. Need to stop looking at averages and look at each school – some get more per student then other schools. Bringing top spending schools down is more fair then across the board cuts hurting more efficient schools.

Seniority based layoffs require MORE teachers losing their jobs since more junior teachers have lower salaries then more senior teachers. Making a 5% cut in teachers, you will have to 7.5% of your teachers if you use seniority as a basis for the layoffs! Wow – so unions actually fight to cut more jobs