For Immediate Release: December 8, 2009
Bouchard calls on schools to pursue greater efficiencies for support service cost-savings
Oakland County- Mike Bouchard, Republican candidate for governor, is urging Michigan school districts to explore more cost-effective ways to provide support services in light of the state’s budget challenges.
“The future of our children and our state depends on a quality educational system,” Bouchard said. “But shrinking budgets continue to hamper teachers and administrators. As state revenues decline, it is essential now more than ever that we find ways to operate with greater efficiency. We can reduce costs without sacrificing excellence. Consolidation and competitively bidding support services are ideas whose time has come.
“In Oakland County, I have privatized the food services in the jail, which saves taxpayers $1.6 million every year. That allows me to focus those dollars on our core mission of public safety. We need to find ways to squeeze money out of our current budget and better deliver the necessary services. I propose we competitively bid our transportation, food and janitorial services on an Intermediate School District (ISD) basis. This will allow us to use economies of scale and leverage our purchasing in order to better focus our resources and funding for the classroom. The most important part of education is what happens in the classroom between the teacher and student and that is where we must direct our attention and support. Some districts already are leading the way in these types of partnerships.
“The Troy School District in Oakland County is saving $4 million a year by working with the private sector,” Bouchard said. “That works out to about $300 per student. It’s time that more schools partner with the private sector as well as other districts to deliver support services. It’s good for students and taxpayers and it eliminates the false choice of either slashing funding for schools or raising taxes.
“When I was a state senator, I chaired education and our focus was bringing the bottom districts up without tearing the top down. The Granholm/Cherry administration broke the implicit promise of Proposal A when 20J funding was vetoed, when that was clearly a better solution for all districts. Additionally, it is unfair for those districts that have made the tough choices to be punished by subsidizing those that have not.”
Bouchard pointed out that sharing resources is becoming an accepted practice even in competitive industries such as newsgathering.
“We have television stations that share resources such as vehicles and videographers.” Bouchard said. “If highly competitive news organizations can work together while carrying out their missions, surely schools can as well.”
Bouchard is a leading advocate for other reforms that will protect schools and their funding. For example, he proposes that lawmakers enact a balanced budget by May 15. Until that job is done, no non-essential legislation would be considered. The budget would be a two-year rolling budget with a three-year outlook that would be independently verified for accuracy. The governor and all legislators would be docked a day’s pay for each day after May 15 that a budget is not in place.
“Lansing’s inability to get its act together continues to set our school districts up for failure,” he said. “Schools need budgeting certainty. They can’t do their jobs if Michigan’s leaders are unwilling to do theirs. Let’s fix Lansing so we can get Michigan back to work and provide our children with the first-class education they deserve.”
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Paid for by Mike Bouchard for Governor
P.O. Box 1433
Royal Oak, MI 48068
