Cost Containment
Position Point #1: Optimize Operating Efficiency
The Practitioners Summit recognizes and is the first to acknowledge that administrative and support costs in Michigan Schools are above national averages and, accordingly should be closely scrutinized and then lowered. However, organizational change must be driven by data to support greater efficiencies. At present, the data does not support that larger school districts are necessarily more efficient nor do they have lower administrative or clerical costs. To accomplish the goal of lowering these costs, standards and benchmarks should be determined that would promote operating efficiency. The state can play a part in the lowering of such costs by reducing or eliminating reporting functions or other mandates that are redundant or of questionable value. Areas of focus include, but are not limited to, moving to a common school business software system, reducing paperwork, consolidating labor contracts, and by encouraging (carrot), or for those more recalcitrant cases, mandating (stick) the sharing or consolidation of administrative and clerical functions.
- Syracuse University study on cost implications of consolidating school districts.
- Mackinac Center study on the optimal size for school districts.
- Chicago Tribune article on the unanticipated cost of consolidating school districts in Illinois
- University of Indiana press release on study of school district consolidation
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