40 suggestions to reduce the Chatham County Schools 2012-2013 budget deficit

Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2012 16:27:35 -0500
From: Mia Munn
Subject: CCS budget reduction suggestions

Mr. Logan sent out the list below of 40 suggestions to reduce the CCS 2012-2013 budget deficit. These were suggested by the district’s senior leadership team, the Budget Advisory Committee, and the Chatham County Association of Educators.  These suggestions will be shared with the board of education at the meeting Monday, March 5.

The CCS staff will estimate the savings from these suggestions this week and present the numbers to the budget advisory committee at the Thursday, March 8, meeting.  The suggestions will then be used to develop scenarios for the BOE to discuss on Monday, March 12.

If you have any additional suggestions, send them to Mr. Logan by 5pm Monday so they can be included in the discussion Thursday. If you want to give feedback on this suggestions, you can also email me directly.

Mia

•    Increase class size:  Present teacher/pupil ratio in Chatham County Schools is better than state teacher/pupil allocation formula.  By increasing class size, teaching positions could be decreased and savings realized.
•    Redesign alternative school: SAGE has been designed and staffed to serve our 9-12 at-risk population.  The state requires each LEA to offer an alternative program, not an alternative school.  Several approaches exist which would allow the school district to continue SAGE under a different design which would save cost.
•    Reduce specials (art and music programs).
•    Reduce instructional support: curriculum coaches (9), instructional facilitators ( ), and instructional technology facilitators (3).
•    Delete high school testing coordinators (3).
•    Reduction of Teacher Assistants: could reduce by grade level, by hours of employment, or by days of employment.
•    Mr. Hamm requested last March that we ask Surry County how they manage with a low level of central office staffing. Research this issue.
•    Benchmark against counties of similar size. Ask how they are staffed, and how they are dealing with the budget cuts (for next year and in the past 3 years). Some of this has been done, will share with budget committee..
•    Review staffing against state and local staffing guidelines. Eliminate anything in excess of those guidelines.
•    Examine out-sourced contracts – could the work be better done in-house? An example – do we still need Safelle contract, or could we handle that ourselves now that the custodians know what to do (we could
keep the token reward system). Have custodians handle lawn care instead of outsourcing.
•    Consider bringing the AVID program coordination in-house, at employee cost (or part of an employee) instead of consultant cost. Consultants typically are much more expensive than employees.  Total cost of AVID needs to be reviewed.
•    Some assistant principals could cover more than one school…esp. elementary, due to the fact that there may be fewer after school and evening extracurricular activities that would require principal’s attendance.
•    Eliminate assistant principals (above state-funded levels) (7 state paid, 6 locally paid). Have APs teach one or more classes a day.
•    Cost out what could be saved after transportation by closing one of the small schools. How long would bus rides be?
•    Add a staff member to look for efficiencies.
•    Look at a 4 day school week.
•    Are there any recently-created positions (past 5 years) that we once did without, and could do without again?
•    Reduce Administrative Assistants. In business, it is unusual for directors or small (<50) departments to have an administrative assistant.
•    Look at Other Professional Staff. What positions are of lowest value?
•    Homebound teacher for county. Other teachers used to be given extra pay to deliver home bound instruction. The position was created more recently.  The district has 1.2 positions designated for fulltime home bound service and has been in place for years.
•    Set up a “share your ideas” web page – ask the community for ideas. The budget survey was intended to gather community input.
•    Across the board pay cut (ask the commissioners if they would consider reducing the supplement).
•    Reduce local salary for employees on contracts being renewed this year.
•    Can the testing coordinator positions at the high schools be eliminated and be assigned to a central office employee?
•    Eliminate Testing Coordinators (suggested three times).
•    Eliminate Instructional Facilitators (suggested two times)
•    Librarians/media specialists could cover more than one school (esp. small schools and lower grade levels). Volunteers can do some library duties.
•    Curriculum coaches…we have not had them until recently. We can do without them.
•    Do away with curriculum coaches.  That position is a bonus – not mandatory. (suggested 3 times).
•    Could the schools generate money (grant writer or other sources)?
•    Limit buying new technology – we don’t have to have as many computers as we do.
•    Investigate if some preschool programs need to find space in other facilities (such as local church buildings). There are a variety of different programs and funding for them could be complex. Unless the cost of keeping them on main campuses is already completely funded via other means (such a federal funds), it’s possible that schools still pay to have them occupy space…esp. if schools have extra mobile units due to limited space. More classroom space for k-12 can amount to fewer mobile units.
•    Reduce the number of sports (high school and middle school). Charge a participation fee.
•    Change the Instructional Facilitators to shared positions at the high school level, possibly 1/2 teaching load + 1/2 Instructional duties.
•    Shifting financial responsibility for Driver’s Education to parents. Is this an area that is instructionally necessary?
•    In the past apparently, CCS used to hire folks before/after EOCs and brought in a Testing Coordinator just for that time. Other times of the year, counselors performed those duties. Counselors perform those duties at the elementary level, so do we need TC in the secondary schools?
•    We discussed that if sports were cut, that would impact funds received from the PTA Thrift Stores.  For example, not all teachers volunteer, but they do benefit from funds generated by cheerleaders who work, etc.
•    Discontinue paying the cost for duel enrollment courses at CCCC.
•    Discontinue paying cost of AP courses at high schools.
•    Discontinue paying the cost of PSAT for those not paid for by the state.