ideasfortps.com

Use more in house experts

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:41

Using "free" in-house experts for teacher training sessions instead of paying outside experts.

Source

VOIP for communications

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:40

Chicago Public Schools deploys citywide VoIP to cut costs, improve communication VoIP to lift $6-million Centrex weight off the city of broad shoulders, IT officials say. By Phil Hochmuth, NetworkWorld.com, 11/07/06 The Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school system, is starting a five-year VoIP rollout this month to improve communications among teachers and parents, while slashing millions of dollars in recurring telecom and maintenance expenses out of the school's budget, city IT officials say.Read the entire Network World article here.

Sponsors for Sports Teams

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:39

Have athletic companies sponsor uniforms for district sport teams - Income of $7k a school plus good uniforms.

Reduce the number of checking accounts to only the most critical

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:38

Consolidate activity funds. This will save on fees charged for the accounts, and the time required to reconcile the accounts. Spring ISD consolidated several accounts and saved more than $1,000 annually.

From 101 ways to save money.

Negotiate a new depository contract

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:38

Make sure every checking account earns interest. Watch the type of bank account the district has. Ask for a monthly bank account analysis to confirm the transaction fees charged to the account even if the district maintains a compensating balance. Ricardo ISD’s bank pays interest on all accounts, and the district is earning an additional $7,000 annually through better investing practices. Smithville ISD’s bank didn’t offer a sweep account recommended by TSPR, so the district used this leverage to encourage the bank to increase interest by nearly $9,000 annually.

From 101 ways to save money.

Eliminate 2 cabinet positions and hire 2 development directors

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:37

I presented this idea a while ago. It is a take off of what the colleges do.

Set a goal of creating 5 endowed teaching positions and other sponsored positions. The district could even do smaller teaching chairs or have specific named teachers. The reward of the sponsor will be their name will be associated with the award for the life of the award. The development director's responsibilities will be locating donors and sponsors for these positions.

Convert several schools to charter schools

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:31

Anonymous writes "This would allow the district to be exempt from some of the unfunded madates of the state, and would allow TPS to directly compete with charter schools who are drawing away the local students."

Spend 65% of money on classrooms

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:31

Anonymous writes "Simply adopt Ken Blackwell's 65% solution. Spending more money in the classroom makes sense to me."

Reward employees that save money

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:29

TPSInsider writes "Provide a financial incentive program for employees who what to save money. If you reward those who save money, you will have more people looking for ways to save money.
"

Use School Buses For All Activites

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:29

tpsteacher writes "During my time coaching the JV Softball team at my high school, we took a chartered bus to our away games. Yes, you read that right, a charted bus. The bus came out of Findlay and from what I was told cost about 800 dollars a trip. That being my first year, I thought it was a little out of the ordinary, but never really thought that much about it. Now that I have some time in at my school I realize what an unbelievable waste of money this was. These are JUNIOR VARSITY SOFTBALL GAMES we are talking about.

Combine Transportation

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:28

Anonymous writes "Students at Grover Patterson Academy and Toledo Technology Academy dismiss school at the same time, but have seperate busses for each school. The TTA students ride busses that are nearly empty.
As students at these 2 schools come from all over the city, they should be combined on the same bus for the ride home.
If GPA changed their starting time to match that of TTA, then the students could ride the same bus to school.

Savings $100,000 for the trip home, another $100,000 if they rode to school together
"

Open Source Software

Submitted by ToledoPlusPlus on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:27

Open Source Software
Posted on Friday, October 20 @ 18:33:30 EDT by chrismyers

toledoplusplus writes "The cost of specific hardware support and software licensing, costs for running administrative computers as well as computer labs for students can be high. Open source software is free, and if TPS *needed* external tech support they could go with Red Hat Linux.

Estimated Savings: $100,000: http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/smb/2006/012953.html

Redirect money from health insurance fund

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:26

Ms. Lawrence reiterated a suggestion yesterday that the district should redirect money from a health insurance fund that has about $19 million to pay health-care costs.

"There is a surplus in our health insurance fund and only $9 million needs to be in that fund," she said. "That ac*****ulation is there because of the health-care concessions and adjustments teachers and other employees agreed to a couple of years ago."

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061020/NEWS04/61...

Eliminate board discretionary fund

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:26

Anonymous writes "What about getting rid of the discressionary fund for board members? TPS can close schools and furlough teachers, but the board spends money like crazy. "

Downgrade Facilitator, Coordinator etc. to Teacher

Submitted by GuestZero on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:25

GuestZero writes "At over $90K salary per administrator, the TPS must get rid of the top-heavy administration in this age of constant fiscal emergency. The first thing to do is convert these administrators to teachers (at teacher pay scales). Those who don't accept should be fired. The next thing to do after that program progresses is to lay off more administrators who are not only useless to the educational process, but also can't be added to the teacher rolls due to staffing levels. So ... the point of the educational system is to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to children.

Eliminate positions in the board building

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:23

Anonymous writes "Get rid of some of the people down at the board that are doing nothing. There are times when you walk in and there are people just wandering around, drinking coffee in the hallway talking about the latest scores from the day before, or going here or there with no specific destination in mind. Some of these people do not do much of anything and they get a substancial salary."

Public performances

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:23

FrugalFran writes "I would love to be invited to a "show" given by the children of the district. It does not have to be a special presentation. I would pay a couple of dollars to see the art work of area school children or see a school pageant. Could there be a chance for the public to be invited to such events, even if it meant moving to a larger location?"

How about advertising everywhere?

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:22

FrugalFran writes "
I, too, had thought of advertising on busses. But, what about advertising in other locations, too? Perhaps, a school could post a large, election-type sign in the front yard, in the entry way or even in the hallways or offices. There's nothing wrong with giving your business a boost in return for helping children. However, no one would want a situation where the signs overpower the facility or grounds

"

Decentralize district

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:12

Decentralize district
Posted on Wednesday, October 18 @ 13:59:55 EDT by chrismyers

TPSInsider writes "While not really a cost savings idea, I bet the district could get more bang for the buck by decentralizing the district. This could eliminate some administration positions.

See "Schools take a lesson from big business" at USA Today at the address:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-03-08-principals...
"

The Six Habits of Fiscally Responsible Public School District

Submitted by chrismyers on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 19:11

For a great read on the 6 habits of a fiscally responsible school district, see the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's free publication. It is a quick read and has some great ideas in it. It is taylored for Michigan, but there are many concepts that apply to any school district.