As I review the landscape of public schools budget issues I have not seen many districts having a dialogue about shared services. The obvious areas that come to mind would be transportation, maintenance and technology.
I thought there would be more creativity concerning shared services with other districts or utilizing BOCES services. Districts would benefit greatly in reducing cost not only this year but for years to come. Setting up a cost reduction structure ,say with technology would save the districts $ 100,000's.
Districts would have technical staff/a Director of Technology off their payroll, these staff would be BOCES employees assigned to a district. If districts partner with another district they share the cost and get aid back the following year based on the district’s aid ratio. A Director of Technology does not need to be in a district 5 days a week, alternating between two districts 3 days/2 days every other week would be efficient enough to provide the leadership, strategic planning and managerial oversight necessary.
There is no reason that districts and the taxpayers should sustain such salaries in this time. The govenor recommends consolidations, mergers and sharing of services, as in the business model, Superintendents are in the business of operating school districts, so the time is now to re-invent themselves to run more efficiently, cost effectively.
I see alot of reductions in programs, pay freezes, teacher layoffs but rarely administrative redesign.
