Addressing school budget cut realities
School funding is a frequent target for cost savings and efficiencies. As a school Principal or administrator, you are all too familiar with the constant budget pressures. But the events of the past year have taken this to a new level, and the impacts will be felt for years to come. Dramatic changes to school operations, combined with significant impacts to state and municipal budgets, are forcing many schools to take a deeper look at their financial plans. Federal pandemic-relief funding may help address some critical short-term issues while transitioning to new operating methods.
According to the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, about 70 percent of a school’s expenses are directly related to staffing and instruction, with 20 percent going to operations, and 10 percent to administration. In this article, we will focus on creative cost-savings measures to address school budget cuts that do not target salaries or negatively affect classrooms and student success.
Identifying creative solutions for budget management
What makes budget solutions both creative and effective is their long-term impact, sustainability, and positive secondary benefits. For example, cutting capital investments or maintenance expenses may help with this year’s budget, but defer the problem to future years. We have looked for ideas that are positive in both the short and long term and have the potential to make ongoing contributions to the community. Our suggestions are grouped into three categories: managing facilities and resources, exploring new models for cost sharing, and leveraging the power of the collective.
Managing facilities and streamlining resources
Reducing expenses on facilities and consumable resources helps with the overall budget and also has a positive effect on the environment
Taking a fresh look at facilities management
Heating, ventilation, electricity, and water utilities are not new targets for school budget cuts, but taking another look at these areas can uncover new cost saving opportunities. Reducing electricity and heating usage are great for the environment, too. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that schools can save between 25 and 50 percent on energy costs by turning off unused lights and equipment more consistently, switching to LED light bulbs, reducing thermostats outside of school hours, or closing off unused areas. Building changes due to COVID-19, such as ventilation improvements, may be an opportunity to incorporate motion-sensing fan controls, thermostats, light switches, and other efficient building technologies.
Adopting paperless workflows and introducing e-signature capabilities
Becoming a paperless school can save a lot of time and money and reduce waste. Moving from paper to digital processes reduces costs by up to $6 per document and simplifies and streamlines workflow processing, especially in remote operating environments. Digitizing documents, from student IEPs and permission slips to staff benefit and administrative forms, makes it easier to distribute information and keep everyone up to date. Getting electronic approvals and signatures with products like Adobe Sign is 28 times faster than with paper and ink forms, and that was calculated before lockdowns and online learning. Security capabilities in PDF-based forms also help ensure compliance with state and federal privacy regulations.
ROI Calculators Find out how much time and money your institution could save if you went paperless with this simple savings estimator for K12 and Higher Education.
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