The school district’s budget was the sole discussion item on the table for the Board of Education’s three-hour March 10 meeting. (See ‘These are my tax dollars, and I say that’s wrong’)
Cuts in school funding from the state isn’t new news, and for weeks, the board has listened to analyses and studies presented by district staff. The analyses focus on cuts in school services and non-union staff, and are based on suggestions given to the school district during budget input meetings and via email.
The Review has collected and condensed the analyses in an effort to make the budgeting process more black and white.
What follows are summaries of one third of the analyses and the date they were presented to the board. Complete analyses, are available on the district’s Website: www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
To watch past meetings, visit www.OrionONTV.org.

Elementary specials ? Feb. 24
The district investigated two scenarios in eliminating ‘specials? teachers (i.e. music, art, physical education and media). The first scenario ? reducing specials teachers from 24.5 to 17.5 ? would save the district $362,610 the first year and $487,500 each year thereafter. Per their contract, elementary homeroom teachers receive 225 minutes of planning time per week, which is achieved by sending students to specials teachers. Keeping 17 specials teachers would allow the district to meet this contractual need, with teachers utilizing 25 planning minutes prior to the school day, one day per week.
The second scenario ? eliminating all 24.5 specials teachers ? would save the district $1,174,776 the first year and $1,582,750 each year thereafter. In this scenario, savings would be offset by the cost of replacing specials teachers with 15 substitutes in order for homeroom teachers to receive their 225 contractual minutes for planning.

Alternate school schedules / calendars ? Feb. 24
Currently, the district’s 41 bus routes cost about $5,000 per day. A common calendar between all schools would decrease the number of days and costs. According to the analysis facilitator, exact savings are difficult to calculate without preparing a detailed model; however a common year-round calendar with intersessions would add $75,000 per year.

Coordinated purchasing ? Feb. 24
The district’s current purchasing practice is that each employee is responsible for pricing needed items like teaching supplies, office supplies and custodial supplies. The district has the option to implement coordinated purchasing through a purchasing department or identifying preferred vendors and bids.
A purchasing department would require additional staff.
According to the analysis facilitator, specific savings with preferred vendors is difficult to determine, but the district could save between $19,437 and $64,790 per year.

Consolidation of services ? Feb. 24
The district is investigating consolidation of service with other local districts for services including operational manager positions, transportation, technology system administration and instructional technology. Districts? differences in software, contracts, procedures and policies need to be minimized to expedite consolidation. Cost savings are yet to be determined.
Administrators wouldn’t reveal who was on the study’s committee or with which school districts they were working.

Distance learning ? Feb. 24
2009/10 student overloads cost the district $108,120. Distance learning ? at a cost of $37,400 ? could alleviate class overloads, potentially saving the district $70,720.

Employee retirement incentive ? Feb. 24
An early retirement incentive plan is already in motion for teachers in the district. If 20 of 68 qualifying teachers accept the offer, the district will save $1,365,992 in the first year and nearly $6.8 million after eight years.
Seven administrators in the district qualify. If two accept the offer, the district would lose $88,194.

Furlough days ? Feb. 24
Positions eligible for furlough days include teachers, social workers, speech pathologists, counselors, secretaries, principals, directors, supervisors, central office administrators, central office support staff, custodians, grounds and maintenance, mechanics, clerks, some computer technicians, and system administrators. The cost of these employees per day is approximately $150,000, which the district would save per implemented furlough day. Underemployment compensation obligations could offset savings by around 10 percent.

Privatization ? Feb. 24
No detailed cost savings were listed in this study except ‘the privatization of any operational area in the district may result in the layoff of staff.? The current cost of 52 custodians and four buildings and grounds employees and supplies is $6,151,068. The current cost of 66 transportation employees and supplies is $3,924,030. The current cost of food service employees and supplies is $2,408,575.

Central office support staff ? Feb. 24
The central office’s 12 support staff currently cost the district $982,634 in salary and benefits. The most common areas of outsourcing central office staff were in benefit and payroll administration, according to the analysis.
Outsourcing benefit administration could save around $37,000.
There is no cost savings associated with outsourcing payroll administration.

Middle school concept ? Feb. 24
If the district implemented the middle school concept, first taken ‘off the shelf? April 2009, it would save $499,730 the first year and $666,250 each year thereafter. The three-month period left to complete the plan is considerably shorter than the 15-month original time lead, and the ‘aggressive? six-month time lead.

Revenue enhancements ? Feb. 24
The district could enhance revenues through fundraising, food service, advertising, school facility usage, going ‘green,? selling excess property, endowments and charging for services like premium student parking. According to the study, most ideas were feasible but none stood to make ‘a significant financial impact on an $83 million budget.?

Building capacities / grade configurations / facility use ? Feb. 24
Closing all three middle schools and housing students at the high school in split shift is feasible and would save the district $1.25 million.
Consolidating three middle schools into two is not feasible. The maximum number of students in the district’s two biggest middle schools, Waldon and Scripps, is 1,770 and the current middle school student population is 1,820.
Housing fifth through eighth grade students in middle school, and closing two elementary schools is feasible and would save the district $1.65 million.
Creating a fifth and six grade building, and a seventh and eighth grade middle school is not feasible because no one school will accommodate those student populations.
Closing one elementary school is feasible and would save the district $825,000.
The cost of Moose Tree Nature Preserve is $79,200, which the district would save if it closed Moose Tree.

Technology hardware / software ? Feb. 24
Currently, most the district’s computers are seven-years-old or older. Replacing all 3,000 of them would cost approximately $4 million. The cost to lease the same number of computers is $875,000 per year for five years, for a total of $4,375,000, which is more expensive in the end but allows for ‘wiggle room? in the current budget.

Cuts in state funding for schools isn’t new news, and for weeks, Lake Orion school staff and administrators have presented analyses and studies on potential cuts to the district to the school board. The analyses focus on cuts in school services and non-union staff, and are based on suggestions given to the school district during budget input meetings and via email.
The Review has collected and condensed the analyses in an effort to make the budgeting process more black and white.
What follows are summaries of one third of the analyses and the date they were presented to the board, with the remaining summaries coming our next edition. Complete analyses, are available on the district’s Website: www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us.
To watch past meetings, visit www.OrionONTV.org.

Middle School Assistant Principals ? Jan. 27
If the district eliminated the three assistant principals at the middle school level, it would save $247,044 the first year and $297,000 each year thereafter. Assistant principals would return to the classroom, displacing three teachers, with a reduced salary to reflect the change in position. District administrators, building principals and counselors would absorb their responsibilities.
If the district reduced middle school assistant principals to half time, it would save $123,522 the first year and $148,500 the years after. Assistant principals? remaining time would be spent in the classroom, eliminating one and a half teachers.

Middle School Counselors ? Jan. 27
The district currently has six middle school counselors, with two at each building. If the positions were eliminated, the district would save $290,088. Counselors would return to the classroom, bumping out teachers with lower seniority. In order to absorb counselor responsibilities, some staff may need training on their new duties, which could offset savings.

Police Liaisons ? Jan. 27
The district currently has two police liaisons, one at the high school and one to cover middle and elementary schools. The cost for these liaisons, contracted through Oakland County Sheriff’s Department is $122,000, which the district would save if it eliminated the liaisons.
Schools of Choice ? Jan. 27
Lake Orion Community Schools currently does not participate in open enrollment and does not accept students from other districts. If it did participate in open enrollment, there is no way to predict the amount of revenue would come to the district because 1) it’s unknown exactly how many slots would be available for outside students, 2) it’s unknown how many, if any, students from other districts would transfer to Lake Orion, 3) if students did transfer, it’s unknown what district they would come from and how much their foundation allowance (funding per student from the state) is.

Secretarial Support ? Jan. 27
Currently, 11 year-round secretaries, 19 11-month secretaries and 10 clerks work in the district.
If the district reduced four, year-round secretaries to 11-month secretaries (three in the middle schools, and one at the high school) it would save $27,200.
Or, if the district eliminated three, half-time secretaries in the middle schools, it would save $106,350.
Or, if the district changed three, half-time secretaries to three half-time clerks at the middle level, it would save $76,350.
The district could also create a two-tier pay scale, offering a lower salary for incoming secretaries, but it’s unknown what the savings would be as it is a negotiated item.

Shared Administrators Between Schools ? Jan. 27
The district could reduce the number of building administrators by sharing principals and assistant principals between buildings. Elementary schools could use ‘assistants-in-charge? and middle schools could share assistant principals. Specific savings would vary, depending on the configuration of sharing administrators. Currently, each elementary principal is a minimum of $131,611. Each middle school principal is a minimum of $133,500. Each middle school assistant principal is a minimum of $84,000.

Transportation ? Feb. 24
If the district’s schools were all open and closed on the same days and half days were eliminated, it would save $31,348. Of that, $22,950 in savings would come from eliminating busing for Carpenter’s transportation in August, and $8,398 would come from eliminating 19 non-standard days (half days).
Currently, buses arrive 20 minutes prior to the school bell, allowing students to transfer to a shuttle bus that transports them to their school of attendance. If the buses unloaded students, and then left for the Transportation Department, the district would save $20,240.
If focus school students were shuttled in the afternoon as well as the morning, the district would save $29,040. In this scenario, students from Carpenter would be dismissed early, shuttled to Orion Oaks and then transported home.
If students from the high school and Scripps Middle School rode on the same buses, the district would save $36,360.
If high school busing were eliminated, the district would save $212,152.57.
If the district eliminated busing completely, it would save $2.5 million.

School Start Times ? Feb. 24
There are no cost savings associated with juggling school start and end times.

Green Consideration Study ? Feb. 24
Study facilitators said they’d ‘hope to break even? on the costs and savings associated with a district-wide recycling program.
Some cost savings would be associated with turning off unused lights, computers, monitors and other electrical items, though specific savings are unknown.
Since alternative energy sources require funds for start-up costs, initial investments are not feasible because of current budget constraints.
Currently, the district uses Styrofoam lunch trays. There would be no savings in switching to biodegradable trays, but rather a cost increase of $44,852.08, district-wide.
The district could install dishwashers in each building at a cost of $15,000 each, for a total of $165,000, and purchase plastic lunch trays for $12,280. The start-up costs, however, far outweigh the price of Styrofoam trays, which is $8,616.96 per year.
If the district eliminated individually packaged fruit and vegetable four-ounce cups, it would save $14,361.60 per year.
‘Green? grants are available. Of those researched, all were for specific project amounts or less than $5,000.

Athletics ? Feb. 24
If all sports were self-funded, like hockey and lacrosse, while retaining administrative and other miscellaneous expenses, the district would save $352,944.
If the district implemented a tiered pay-to-play structure, with fees reflecting the actual program costs (which differ at the varsity, JV, freshmen and middle school levels), the cost savings would be the same ? $352,944.
If the athletic department were turned over to an outside organization, like a municipal parks and recreation committee, it would save $829,500.
If freshmen sports were eliminated, the district would save $68,575.
If JV sports were eliminated, the district would save $95,496.
If middle school sports were eliminated, the district would save $245,058.
After-School Activity Fees ? Feb. 24
Currently, the district charges fees for some after-school activities, but not all. In the 2008/09 school year, the total cost to the district for after-school activities was $52,635. If the district created a fee ($21.67 per participating student) to cover the total cost of after school activities, it would save $52,635.
If the district charged $15 per participating student, it would save $19,095.
If the district eliminated after-school activities, it would save $52,635, but the district is still obligated to divide that funding between each building.
If the district charged participating students fees based upon the actual cost of individual activities (anywhere from $0 to $100, depending on the activity), it would save $52,635.