Budget Efficiency Ideas from Kyrene Staff
Staff Suggestions 2008-2009
Also, when I worked in HR at the pharmaceutical company, we had a “Savings Suggestions” box in our office. Once a quarter, a committee would get together and review all the suggestions. We would chose one or two and implement them in the company. The employees whose ideas were chosen were awarded $100 gift cards. It is just an idea, but I know we got some really good ideas and one saved us $50,000.
I am writing to express my concern about the discontinuing retired teachers in Kyrene next year. I do understand why they and other teachers are being let go. My concern is why retired administrators at the district office are not being let go also. Surely they can be replaced by other displaced employees. I know that they do their jobs well, but so do the retired teachers. They received retirement so they have an income, just like the retired teachers. I know of at least 4 positions that are filled with retired employees; there might be more that I do not know about.
This is nothing personal, just like with the retired teachers, but it does seem to be unfair to let some retirees go and to keep others. This does not seem to be acting in good faith to all employee groups.
I suggest that all employees be given the option (when contracts are issued) to choose whether they would prefer to take furlough days OR a salary reduction.
Health assistants do not need to return to school two weeks early. one week would be sufficient, and save money.
One idea to reduce expenses is to change the thermostat in the Furlong Center. It’s freezing!!!
Convert from a traditional paid time off arrangement (separate sick, vacation, personal days) to a PTO (it's all one except for holidays) arrangement.
PTO typically replaces sick, vacation and personal/floating holidays.
In 24/7 operations, such as hospitals or hotels, PTO can include some or all fixed holidays as well. About 24 percent of employers offer PTO, and this model has grown steadily in popularity. However, PTO isn't necessarily a fit for all employers. In evaluating the feasibility of PTO, you should analyze utilization data and current balances, and understand your population demographics to determine the likely impacts of making this change.
Put copy signs on copy machines asking people to consider conservation.
Think before you print….
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Do you really need to print individual copies for each student?
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Could you use a document camera instead?
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Will this copy engage your students?
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Could you be more efficient by using double sided, 2-up or 4-up?
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Could you use a class set that could be used more than once?
At Cielo, our buildings are so warm not that the heat has turned on. I know we want to keep kids warm, but there are areas that are too toasty on a consistent basis and I know it costs the district a pretty penny to run the heat that high consistently. It began before it even got cold outside, so I think facilities can adjust the temp and the calendar by which the temps are controlled to better match the temps outside instead of using the same schedule they used last year and the year before, etc.
I feel very fortunate to work in such a wonderful district and have a job that I love doing, that in light of the economic situation I would be willing to take a temporary one day furlough. Specifically, I think the last day of school that teachers are working without students would be a great day to work without pay. Most people are finishing up room packing, paper filing, and career ladder - so to me it wouldn't seem like that big of deal to do it without pay. I have no idea the specific impact on the budget this would have or how the union would respond to this - but I want to keep our good programs and good reputation intact.
What about offering some incentive for early retirement? I know that retirement is a STATE thing, but maybe the District could do something. Then the OLD teachers would leave and they could hire YOUNG ones at a lower salary.
Earlier this week health services received a notice that our sharps containers will be exchanged again later this month. According to my invoice from the company it costs $40.00 per pick up (times 25 schools) and it will be picked up even if it is empty. My container is totally empty and it will be exchanged no matter what. I realize that a contract was probably signed for this service but the terms/conditions could be reevaluated before the next contract is renewed.
Reduce the amount of ACA time that employees receive.
At Cielo the multi purpose room temp is computer controlled, I cannot adjust it. During the winter months the heating temp is set high – in fact, so much that the kids are complaining how hot it is (and it’s not just because they’re working hard in PE). How about we adjust any guidelines that are set for temp control, so that MPR areas can be looked at for what they are during most of the day, Physical Education classrooms? I could save the district $ if I had some control of the temp setting.
Raise the payment for doing lunch duty. At our school we have most PE and Exploratory teachers doing lunch duty because teachers do not want to give up their lunch for $8. These teachers do not do academic lab but do lunch duty. In reality they consume almost ½ FTE. 8 teachers x ½ hour = ½ of a teacher. Because most teachers make a lot more than $16 an hour we are actually paying more like $25 and hour. In addition it makes our class sizes slightly larger. I would suggest that lunch duty teachers make $12 a day. We should be using the FTE of our highly paid teachers for the classroom and not lunch duty.
This year they had 6th grade teachers observe a 5th grade class and vice versa. A significant number of substitutes were hired for this to occur. Much of the instruction was not what they normally do. Many teachers did a dog and pony show. If you want teachers to understand what other teachers do, have them do it. I suggest we save the money spent on subs. Merely have the teachers sub for each other. Then they would get a real feel for what each does.
Those who want to drive their kids to school on a regular basis must purchase a “drop-off” pass to offset transportation costs in the district. The busses run regardless of whether the children take the bus. It seems such a shame to see SUV after SUV plowing through our parking lot dropping off kids, and to see busses go by half full. You could present it in two ways. Less traffic makes our campus’s safer. AND, it’s one of Kyrene’s ways to GO GREEN by keeping traffic off the roads. Charging a $25 fee to waive the transportation offered by the district could generate a little funding – especially if the gas prices continue to rise again, as predicted.
Place advertising on the side of our busses. This could be simple way to help cover transportation costs.
Every time you print a document in iVisions, you get an extra page with a footer and no other information. Is there any way to delete the second page? I just did a PAR and wanted a copy for a personnel folder and got the second page.
Completely shut down Kyrene during fall break. Adjust contracts to reduce employee contract days. The salary savings could be prorated/extended over the 10 or 12 month contract.
In the summer, reduce the 10 hour work day to 8, therefore, saving 8 hours per week of every 12 month employee.
Institute early retirement incentives to encourage veteran staff to retire.
Have Career Ladder plans be submitted electronically…that would save on lots of printing and paper.
Allow people the option of waiving their bussing. That could cut down on how many busses the district needs to run.
By reducing an administrator at each facility (possibly one close to retirement or looking for a different career opportunity) then dividing the work up between the remaining administrators or offering certain parts of the job to certified teachers for a stipend.
I know companies that are volunteering/pledging to take a payroll deduction from salary for a year or two so that people are not cut. I would do that. Percentage according to what they make.
In order to cut staffing costs through the rest of the year, Kyrene could offer early retirement to anyone retiring at the end of this year or the end of next year. Offer to allow them retirement benefits based on completion of this year, but they will no longer work or receive a salary through the rest of this school year.
As you know ASU is making all employees take either a 15, 12 or 10 days without pay. It must be non-teaching days.
I know this is not what people want, but I think it is something we all need to consider. Here is my suggestion – we deduct 3 days for 11-12 month employees, 2 days for teachers and 1 day for classified. All of the days are deducted at spring break. Therefore there is no interruption to learning. If we planned on this ahead of time contracts could be adjusted where the pay would be spread out between March and the end of the contract check. Also during spring break Service solution should not be cleaning so money could be saved and all electricity and hear/or air conditioning off. I have no idea what this would save but I am sure it would be pretty close. We could also consider having teachers end the same day as the kids, thus saving another day of pay.
1. Keep the integrity of the salaries, teachers could pledge to take a payroll deduction from salary for a year or two or however long it takes so retirements are not hurt. It would be nice if it were a tax donation somehow.
2. Don't pay us for three days in spring break or Presidents day and spread it out in paychecks
3. Is there not some way we can funnel tax credit monies creatively.
4. Delete Field trips starting now.
5. Next year don't pay for those staff development days and/or have us leave when the students do at the end of the year, etc
6. No beginning assembly- or receptions-
7. Take money from line items like music, PE, next year also, but don't delete the line- if you know what I mean
8. 4 Day Work Week, could solve everything.
Is the state considering going back to 175 student days? If we need to cut our budget for the 09-10 school year I would suggest we begin school on Aug. 5th (Wed.) instead of the 4th and do not have a district get together (also saves money since we would not be paying bus drivers, a speaker or a location) , teachers contracts end on the last day with students and we take away the staff dev. in Oct. and have it as a day without pay.. The Oct. day would be everyone in the district. I would think people would rather have their contracts down by 3 days and keep current programs and class sizes. If the days are deducted right from the first pay check, we would not see a big difference. The state is in such bad shape we all need to do our share to help get out of this mess!
Offer an earlier retirement package to those within a couple of years of retirement? I seem to remember the district doing something like that about 15 years ago.
Close small schools and open them as magnet schools similar to Tempe El. and to Mesa.
My suggestion for saving money is to remove all of the mini-fridges from all of the classrooms which are not needed for supplies e.g. science. It seems like a no-brainer. Most are used for water (when water fountains are never far away.) Some are used for lunches when a refrigerator is available in most lounges -- they are an unnecessary extravagance.
Let teachers sub for teachers and get paid a small amount. This keeps the teaching in the classroom for most of the day. DV does this. If I need to go to the dentist and can get an early appointment missing only one period, let another teacher cover the class and get paid. DV pays the teachers $25.
Reinstate paying teachers now for extra sub days. Some teachers may be more likely not to take a day off.
I want to thank the district for all their hard work to minimize the affect that this budget crunch will have on us. There are a couple of things I would like to suggest to contribute to the process. I make these suggestions with the utmost respect and I appreciate you listening and considering my suggestions. First, other districts have cut utility costs by banning fridges and microwaves on campuses. The exceptions are 1 fridge for elementary and 1 fridge for the Science departments at each grade level and no more than 2 microwaves in the teachers lounge. You would also need to allow School nurses to have a fridge as well. I believe a directive like this could cut into those utility costs. Second, can we scan in IEP's and go paperless on these type of documents and others like them. I copied an IEP the other day, I had to make copies for 10 people who would need to be involved. Needless to say, a tree could have been saved that day as well as money. Finally, I know there are legislative requirements on what has to be in a "healthy" combo lunch. However, when students are forced to take either an apple or orange and they don't want it, they either throw it away or play with it. Milk is the same way. Once those kids take it, the workers are not allowed to take it back. I am unsure if we have a flat contract with Sedexo or if we pay for food on top of the contract. If we pay for food, we waste so much money this way. If there was a way to save this food that is unwanted and uneaten then we could give to a local food bank. Also, we have gatorade and water bottles that could be recycled each day and then turned in to make money but Sedexo does not support that either. We are teaching our kids to be wasteful. I believe we not only have a budgetary opportunity but a teaching opportunity as well.
I suggest that KSD invest in software for remedial reading and math.
Software for supplemental teaching of remedial reading and math would do the following:
1. Reduce the number of staff needed to assist students with academic progress.
2. Save cost because the software is used for multiple students.
3. Save staff the time-consuming duties of collecting progress data, monitoring progress, interpreting data, and moving up the curriculum for each student in a timely manner.
Software would allow children to make progress as they learn without waiting for staff to collect data, monitor progress, and move the curriculum up to the next level. These benefits are inherent in the process because the software automatically does all of that.
Even without considering the economizing nature of software, students would benefit in the following ways:
• Increase comfort and competence with technology.
• Receive immediate feedback, as to performance.
• Receive automatic reinforcement of academic progress.
• Receive the next level of instruction as soon as the current level is mastered.
We have an award winning tech department; let us maximize the benefit to our students.
Eliminate the Kids Zone program and offer our own program where we can generate fees.
Adjust the grounds contracts to 10 months from 12. They could work throughout the summer, but not in the winter where the growth is slow.
Why don’t they add 1 or 2 non paid/ non work days (similar to the day before winter break) to the year? Or work it into the 12 month employee calendars in the summer months if it can’t be done in the school year with all employees.
I feel that the District could save a lot of money if they would stop paying 12 month support staff employees for Spring and Winter Break. This is three weeks of pay that is going to support staff employees that aren't even working those days. It would be a large amount of money saved during this very difficult time. These employees already earn vacation days.
Would it be possible to have teachers and support staff rotate covering some of the crossing guard and lunch/playground duties? Each of these positions only takes 15-30 minutes per shift. This would cut some part time positions, but save considerably.
Also, the florescent lights that are in all of our buildings have 4 bulbs in each fixture. Removing just one of the four bulbs wouldn't be enough to change the amount of light, but would save some money on replacing the bulbs when they burn out. I worked for a major corporation who implemented this practice and they saved quite a bit over a year's time.
Have parents access the summer school catalog on-line and provide a few black & white (not color) copies available at each school for parents without Internet access.
If it gets to the point where our K-3/Lit. hours are in jeopardy for next year, how about changing our contract days to begin the first day of classes and end possibly a couple days prior to the last day. Right now we report the week before school starts and finish on the last day. Personally, I wouldn’t mind having a few extra days of summer break and that last week of school we seldom pull kids for K-3.
Here is an idea for going four days a week, but with a twist:
1. Make sure students get all the contact hours within M-Th. Friday would be an optional shorter day that would function much like summer school. Parents would pay to have their students attend. Teachers would get paid extra to teach on Friday. Classes would be something like 815-115 or 215? Transportation would be the parents’ responsibility and lunch would need to be a sac lunch if it goes that long. Every other week for two hours in the afternoon would be staff/dept/district meetings, etc. If Friday was as long as the other four day (which is possible) the staff meetings could occur any day M-Th before or after school. Friday is always a bad day for attendance. I think attendance would be better overall because parents frequently take kids out for a three day weekend. Teachers that are not teaching the optional Friday classes can go to doctors, etc on Fridays.
1. Allow teachers to sell back their sick days. We never paid very much and it might reduce teacher absenteeism.
2. Allow teachers to cover one class for another teacher that can keep their absence down to a period. Pay the covering teacher $25 per class. Substitutes do not like to come for ½ days. Many teachers would not be absent if this was an option. DV does this.
Please do not discontinue all day kindergarten programs
I sometimes use paper that’s used on one side and make copies from this “recycled paper”. Is there any way the print shop could do the same thing? I know sometimes paper that’s already been used can mess up their machines, but I thought it was worth a suggestion.
Not sure this is possible. . . Discontinue CASS and MSS. Focus on math, reading, and writing SIP assessments (Colina has added a monthly "problem solving" math SIP - as have presumably many or all schools.), AIMS, and Terranova.
Discontinue all evening events at schools. Offer parents the opportunity to conference via email or phone if they are unable to come in. Schedule all events during the school day or shortly thereafter to reduce energy/electricity costs.
Due to the budget problems, Kyrene needs to look at what will least effect our children in the classroom. I recently heard that districts are cutting and eliminating their DISTRICT testing, which is not mandated by the state. This would include CASS and MSS, and also trim down the administrative costs at the DO in continuing these tests. I'm also a teacher in the district and know how well we as classrooms teachers assess our students skills and growth on other tests. I hope this will be a topic of discussion.
In this time of budget crunch and heightened stress levels due to the economy, I truly believe most employees would appreciate time off without pay (Furlough Day) rather than a reduction in pay. The reduction in pay though understandable would most likely further add to the stress levels. Psychologically it just sends a message that you are expected to do the same/more work for less pay not to mention that most are already struggling economically with current pay. A furlough day though will not solve personal finances, psychologically it will allow everyone to feel they are doing their part cooperating with their employer in these difficult times. At the same time, the time off even without pay, will allow them to deal with the other stressful situations in their lives (repossessions, foreclosures, etc., even stress related illnesses) while allowing them to better plan their finances and spend more quality time with their families...this in my opinion can have a more positive impact in everyone's acceptance of change...and stress levels.
Rather than reducing Administrator salaries 1-5%, cut the ACA allotment to each Administrator.
Suggest for support staff a no work / no pay for 1 day per month or the appropriate number of hours per month depending on the severity of the deficit
