Creative Ways to Cut Expenses in a School District

I live on an acerage 17 miles from the town where my kids go to school. the benefit is that I work in that town as well. We do have a bus that comes by, but as my kids got older, more involve in school activities, it worked out better for me to pick them up, rather thatn riding the bus, pretty soon the bus route got longer every year, more kids or whatever, and they were always the first ones on in the morning at 6:45 am, and the last ones off at night at 4:15- 4:30 in the winter. So to make long story short, & some of the kids on bus were mean, so for the last few years, since i have added 2 more children to the family, w/ a total of 4, it's easier for me to just get ready for work, pack up all 4 kids, drive the 20 minutes, drop the little 2 off at daycare, then drop the older 2 off at high school. and be to work by 8. some days its a struggle, but it works.

is that an option for you??

M.,
Our school district has had to make budget cuts every year for many years now and is still in trouble. Some things that have been brought up here are: closing a couple elementary schools and combining the kids at other elementary buildings; out sourcing the janitorial services instead of paying full time employees and benefits; lengthing the school day by say 15 minutes which in the end cuts off days of the school year; another option is to make a 4 day school week by lengthening the days and therefore cutting expenses by keeping the school closed one day a week; we have "pay to play" sports so each child playing on a team pays for a large portion of the costs for uniforms and travel.

This is a really tough issue and it continues to get worse every year hopefully the children will not get lost in the decisions that are made. Good luck!

Unfortunately, schools are facing this in every state. Believe me...there is no easy answer. Schools in cities like Minneapolis have dropped all their sports - no more baseball or even cheerleading. Lunch programs are forcing children with overdue balances to go without lunches or get a bagged lunch with a cheese sandwich. Teachers are getting cut. Our school is talking about dropping all languages from the curriculum (and you can't go to college anymore without at least a year of foreign language). There is no easy answer, and I would just like to say be thankful you even have bus service at all. I totally agree it is ridiculous to have a child ride a bus for and hour and a half (we will be facing that when we build a new house)...but I had to pay for an entire year of taxi service so my child could attend pre-K. We currently have closed our pool, and dropped our afterschool program. It is a terrible situation.

I agree with all of the posts so far. Especially about the carpooling option. Another option may be to see about your children getting on the bus at another stop that is closer to the school. It could be someone that you know that lives in town, for instance. Then they could get dropped off at home in the afternoon. Our bus service offers the option of one stop in the morning and another in the afternoon (since I cannot be home when they would get off the bus in the afternoon, they get dropped off at my mother's).

I am glad you are going to address this in a positive way, but you should know one thing first--bussing is often one of the biggest budget areas for a school district, and when a district needs to reduce the budget, this is often the easiest way to do it, as it doesn't directly affect instruction (like cutting teachers would).

It can be a very frustrating issue, and I'm sure you're not the only one frustrated. Depending on how involved you'd like to get, you can look at the budget, attend school board meetings, and talk to various district employees. I'm not sure how "creative" schools can get in their funding; I think schools are somewhat limited in how they can be funded, but there are perhaps creative budgeting ideas out there.

Good luck...it's a tough problem!

is there a way that your neighbors could arrange a van or something to drive your kids to school? in our extremely rural area, there are only a couple families living in a certain backroads community, and they just have a van/suburban that drives their kids to school. one parent could volunteer to drive all the kids for a small fee or something, or contact your school district and petition for a van or something smaller than a regular bus. if your community is comfortable with it, you can offer to pay a small fee for transportation if that would help.

right now our district is in the process of finding ways to combine 7 of our schools into 3 or 4. its frustrating. its difficult. but its nothing like losing a bus route. this means completely changing bus routes altogether, and going farther from the origional school. some kids in my area ride on a bus for 26 miles, and i have no idea what that means for the kids at the end of the road! i lived 5 miles from the school and my bus ride was around 20 minutes. so theres not a whole lot you can do about distances and ride times.

but i think the suburban/van idea is a great one if there are only a few kids... or a couple of them even. work it out with your neighbors if the district's hands are tied (which, most likely they are).
im sure they are sympathetic to your situation, but in these financial times, theres not a whole lot anyone can do.
at least you still have your school. cuz really, losing that could be next. :(

so sorry.

We're in the same boat only my school's superintendent sent a letter with updated registration forms to all the student's parents asking for ideas on how to reduce their budget without sacrificing a quality education. I had a few ideas but was hoping for more creative ones too.

My ideas included:
*installing timer switches on the power grid. Set them to come on/off for certain times reducing the vampire electricity effect. Even though something's turned off, if it's still plugged in it still draws energy. You either have to unplug the device completely, plug it into a power strip and turn it off or plug it into a timer switch. This will reduce the school's electric bill.

*install digital thermostats to reduce heating/cooling costs.

*update to low flow toilets to save on utilities.

*turn water heaters back to 120 degrees for additional energy savings

My most drastic idea included lengthening the school day and moving to a four day school week. This will reduce bus fuel expenses, breakfast/lunch expenses, and even more energy.

I hope you and I get lots of ideas to help our school. My superintendent has promised to take all viable ideas to our school board so I'll be checking back on your question for even more ideas.

Good Luck!

Since you say you work out of our home could the mom's get together and form a car pooling so that the kids don't have to ride the bus for a long time. I would definately address the situation with the school board and if this isn't a already committed issue maybe you can all find other ways to cut costs. I'm not sure where exactly you live but around here the kids can only be on a bus for no longer than 1 hour. Although that is still a long time it is at least a guideline. Also since this is a line item budget issue there may not be any choice that they parents can do anything about. Learn as much as you can and go from there. Unfortunately fund raising is very difficult these days.

M.,

I think you are on to something! Why not ask the community for ways to cut costs? Why not ask the students?

Sometimes it is so hard to see the big picture when you are in it. Talk to the Superintendent and the PTO/PTA president. Suggest that you are willing to spear-head a coallition to save money from other sources to reinstate the buses. It may take half the year to do it, but it is worth the effort.

This is what schools I've worked in have done:

* one case of paper per teacher, per semester...or less depending on how many students there are.

* all copies have to be double-sided or paper has to be mostly used before discarded (ie. students write on backs of one-sided paper).

* parents "rent" textbooks for each school year and pay for damaged books

* teachers are not allowed to have coffee pots or refrigerators to drain electricity

* lights are put on motion activation switches

* digital thermostats that regulate temps...and temps are kept at appropriate levels...not too cold, not too hot

* part-time janitoral staff....teachers and students kept room clean and put garbage bags outside of doors to be picked-up at end of day, students cleaned the boards, and floors vacuumed two times a week.

* drawing the heavy curtains closed at night.

Ask where all of the money is going. Assign people to investigate each category. Send older kids to interview everyone involved and create a report. The more you involve the kids and teachers, the better chance you have of doing what you need to!

PTO/PTA's can really make a difference. They can help fund teacher's supply needs, library books, etc.

Look at grant money that is out there!!! Everyone thinks that it takes a special person to write for grant money, it doesn't!

Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and ask the readers for suggestions to save the school district money. Done in a positive way, you can move mountains!

Good luck to you!

Our school district is going through similar issues. They decided to cut some positions, changed the bell schedule to allow buses to do two routes, and started charging for using the textbooks at the grade school level.

I would encourage you to contact your school board and find out about rules for busing. 1 1/2 hours seems like it would be pushing the limit for what would be allowed for young kids.
Good luck!!

Hi M.,

I don't believe it should be legal for children to ride a school bus for 1 1/2 hours. That is way too long a trip everyday before they are suppose to listen, learn, and be productive in their studies. There has to be another answer out there. I know our community is using some of the sales tax money to help build a new high school, although I'm not sure this is a great idea at this time in the economy....looks like it doesn't matter what most of us think in the community because a new school was voted down twice before the school board came up with this idea, and went ahead with the plans. Hopefully, the sales tax will keep coming through because if it changes, guess who will have to come up with the money then....the poor community who voted down building a high school at this time. I think a lot of school systems are in the same boat, without a lot of means to make it any better. Maybe a sales tax increase of a penny per dollar could help your community's expense problem without increasing everyone else's expenses too much.

C.

I live in a very rural area as well. My son has to attend a school in a different school district. Since all public education is required to give a free and appropriate education, it is there responsibility to transport - so - the school district pays ME at the standard federal mileage rate to drive my son to school. It is a non-taxable income for me... since it costs me 17 cents a mile and they pay me 55 cents a mile.... just a thought to throw out there. Good luck!