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ShareC-A seeks future savings
District discusses sharing services with county, other schools
By Melanie Lekocevic
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
COXSACKIE — In an era of unprecedented belt tightening, the Coxsackie-Athens Board of Education is continuing discussions over ways the district can save money by sharing services with other districts in Greene County.
Earlier this year the board listened to a presentation by CASDA, an organization that works with school districts to find better ways of doing things and saving money. Sharing services — a move that has received widespread support from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for both school districts and municipalities - was their recommendation.
Shared services could include everything from sharing transportation or health care coverage to actually sharing staff members in order to save money and offer enhanced programming to students.
“What I am excited about is being able to grow as a district and offer the students more programs and opportunities,” board member Barton Wallace said.
One possibility voiced by the board was adding foreign language options to the district’s current offerings of Spanish and French — for instance, offering students the chance to study Mandarin Chinese. That could be done either by sharing an instructor, or even offering distance learning opportunities over the computer, where teachers from other districts teach a “virtual” class.
Board member Maureen Hanse expressed some skepticism about sharing staff members.
“When CASDA came here to discuss this, they were talking about sharing people, but I don’t really think that would work,” Hanse said. “I do, however, like the idea of enhanced communication, like between school principals, so they can discuss ideas for how schools can improve.”
Sharing transportation services could be another option. Some districts have their own school buses and transportation staff, while others - like C-A - contract with an outside provider. Those are the kind of logistical details that would have to be worked out before deciding whether sharing a particular service would be beneficial.
Chief Financial Officer Leslie Copleston said one of the best opportunities for saving money could be for several Greene County districts to team up to share health insurance coverage in a Health Trust — the more people covered under the plan, the greater bargaining power they have in terms of cost efficiencies.
C-A School District Superintendent Randall Squier offered another option — sharing a heating/ventilation/air conditioning employee rather than contracting out for those repair services.
“Hopefully, we won’t all have HVAC problems on the same day,” Squier quipped.
Alternatively, he said, each district could hire a different repair specialist — one district hiring an electrician, another a plumber, and so on — and then sharing their services across the county.
Copleston also said the district is already taking advantage of some smaller opportunities for sharing services in an effort to cut down on costs.
“Just because you are not aware of shared services doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” Copleston said. “For instance, we have an agreement with the Village of Coxsackie to salt our parking lot in the winter. Instead of paying our own labor to do the work and paying for materials, we pay the village a nominal fee to take care of it for us.”
“We are sharing services in some areas already,” Copleston added.
Earlier this year the board listened to a presentation by CASDA, an organization that works with school districts to find better ways of doing things and saving money. Sharing services — a move that has received widespread support from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for both school districts and municipalities - was their recommendation.
Shared services could include everything from sharing transportation or health care coverage to actually sharing staff members in order to save money and offer enhanced programming to students.
“What I am excited about is being able to grow as a district and offer the students more programs and opportunities,” board member Barton Wallace said.
One possibility voiced by the board was adding foreign language options to the district’s current offerings of Spanish and French — for instance, offering students the chance to study Mandarin Chinese. That could be done either by sharing an instructor, or even offering distance learning opportunities over the computer, where teachers from other districts teach a “virtual” class.
Board member Maureen Hanse expressed some skepticism about sharing staff members.
“When CASDA came here to discuss this, they were talking about sharing people, but I don’t really think that would work,” Hanse said. “I do, however, like the idea of enhanced communication, like between school principals, so they can discuss ideas for how schools can improve.”
Sharing transportation services could be another option. Some districts have their own school buses and transportation staff, while others - like C-A - contract with an outside provider. Those are the kind of logistical details that would have to be worked out before deciding whether sharing a particular service would be beneficial.
Chief Financial Officer Leslie Copleston said one of the best opportunities for saving money could be for several Greene County districts to team up to share health insurance coverage in a Health Trust — the more people covered under the plan, the greater bargaining power they have in terms of cost efficiencies.
C-A School District Superintendent Randall Squier offered another option — sharing a heating/ventilation/air conditioning employee rather than contracting out for those repair services.
“Hopefully, we won’t all have HVAC problems on the same day,” Squier quipped.
Alternatively, he said, each district could hire a different repair specialist — one district hiring an electrician, another a plumber, and so on — and then sharing their services across the county.
Copleston also said the district is already taking advantage of some smaller opportunities for sharing services in an effort to cut down on costs.
“Just because you are not aware of shared services doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” Copleston said. “For instance, we have an agreement with the Village of Coxsackie to salt our parking lot in the winter. Instead of paying our own labor to do the work and paying for materials, we pay the village a nominal fee to take care of it for us.”
“We are sharing services in some areas already,” Copleston added.
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YNOT wrote on Dec 14, 2011 4:36 PM:
" Right on Lou,
Keep it at no more than 2%. We can't take anymore.
If I hear "it's for the children" from the teachers once more I'll scream. let the overpaid teachers take a CUT in pay and pay for half of their health care if they profess to care so much.
The taxpayers have given way too much.
c'mon teachers, show us how much YOU care. "
Keep it at no more than 2%. We can't take anymore.
If I hear "it's for the children" from the teachers once more I'll scream. let the overpaid teachers take a CUT in pay and pay for half of their health care if they profess to care so much.
The taxpayers have given way too much.
c'mon teachers, show us how much YOU care. "
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Lou wrote on Dec 14, 2011 9:41 AM: