Want to Save Your School District $100,000?

Learn 3 Ways to Save At Least $100,000 from Your Budget

Everyone knows American school budgets are tight. Teachers know this because they have to turn to social media to beg people to buy them school supplies and materials.

Principals know this because they can’t execute their “big ideas” since there are no funds to pay for them. And Superintendents know this because they have to hear the School Business Administrator tell them “no” fifteen times a day because the money they want to use is locked in one account and can’t be legally moved to another account.

Oh, the life of a school administrator!

But what if there was a way to save $100,000 from your school budget?

The Principal’s Academy

Way back in 2013, I developed and started the Principal’s Academy, the best school management program for administrators. Why was this program so valuable to principal’s and superintendents? The answer is simple, schools waste a lot of money and learning ways to save money makes your job easier.

Are you curious what administrators learned in the Principal’s Academy?

Here are 3 Ways to Save $100,000 from Your School Budget

The First Way

One thing I noticed reviewing school budgets with administrators in the program was that many districts had “too many” supervisors. The first question that always popped up was, “How many supervisors do we need?”

The number of supervisors a district needs is a function of how well your teachers perform in the classroom. In other words, if you have a building or district filled with inexperienced and average teachers, you will need extra supervisors.

Conversely, if you want to save money, one of the easiest ways to save money is to reduce the number of supervisors. But there’s a catch. You can’t start cutting supervisors until after you improve teacher performance first.

How much time and effort do you spend on elevating teacher performance in the classroom? The answer is “less” than you think.

The Second Way

Most school districts in 2022 have too many inexperienced and average teachers working for them, which means instead of focusing on boosting student achievement, they are more focused on “coddling” teacher egos.

The single biggest mistake a school administrator can make is taking their eye off the goal, which is boosting student achievement and focus instead on trying to reduce class sizes.

Unfortunately for teachers, there is no valid scientific evidence that proves class size has any major impact on improving student outcomes. There is only one thing that reducing class sizes does and that is reduce the pressure placed on inexperienced and average teacher’s shoulders.

What administrators learned in the Principal’s Academy is how to use class size as a function of teacher quality. First and second year teachers should not be asked to handle classes larger than 20 students, whereas expert teachers should be able to handle 25–30 students.

The problem still comes back to teacher performance in the classroom. But at least it’s an identifiable problem now. When a district focuses attention on boosting teacher expertise inside the classroom, they can schedule one or two less classrooms. That means, the district needs one or two less teachers on their payroll. That’s one way to save money.

The other way to save money is to stop the non-stop recruiting wheel. According to labor statistics, it costs a school district 2x a teacher’s salary when a teacher quits the district. That’s because a district has to pay for recruiting, on-boarding, professional development, supervisor hours and lost student achievement.

If you want to save money, it’s time to focus your attention on helping all of your teachers become experts in the classroom. There is simply no more excuses in 2022. A school administrator needs an expert teacher in every classroom, or a teacher on the path to expertise.

How many of your teachers are working toward becoming experts?

The Third Way

The last way is the most controversial. That’s because it involves special education and special needs students. When I reviewed budgets with school administrators, one of the most glaring expenses in a school budget is the amount of money the district spends on “out-of-district” placements for special needs students.

I have over 20 years of special education experience. I also ran the most successful K12 program for special needs students in New Jersey, ranked #1 state for education in 2020.

The reason my K12 program was considered the best was because nearly 40% of all elementary students enrolled in my program transitioned back to in-district programs within two school years.

What does that mean for your school budget?

If your district can transition one out-of-district student back to in-district programming, it will save your budget a lot of money. It saves on tuition, it saves on transportation and it saves the federal money your district receives to be used in-district.

Bringing students back to in-district programming is controversial because too many districts don’t do it legally and without harm to the special needs student.

That’s why districts used to contact me. They wanted to know how they could legally transition students to in-district programs.

Summary

If you were looking for ways to save $100,000 from your school budget, I have outlined three ways for you in this article. Of course, executing these cost savings measures is not easy and not without obstacles.

The administrators in my Principal’s Academy learned how to navigate these cost savings measures and how to overcome those obstacles. The choice is up to you — do you want to find savings in your school budget or do you like dealing with never having enough?

If you have questions, post them in the comments below.

About the Author:

D.Scott Schwartz, M.Ed. is better known as “The School Doc” on social media. In 2017, he was recognized by the #1 ranked state for education. He is a 21st century skills expert, including Leadership, Sales and Communications. He provides consulting help to businesses and schools on a limited basis. He also writes freelance and on Medium. If you want more info, you can learn more at Leaf Academy (find the url link in bio.)