District could save $1M, CEO says

Audit recommends changes to operations

Lorain City Schools could save $1 million or more by changing how the district spends money on food services, transportation, human resources, technology and other services needed to operate.

The school district on Feb. 9 published the 65page vendor spending analysis conducted by Mehta Advisory Partners, or MAP. The firm analyzed historical spending with vendors and the district’s allocation of money “to provide an overall fact base on nonpersonnel spending.”

District Chief Executive Officer David Hardy Jr. referred to the study during his Feb. 8 Town Hall Meeting.

“First and foremost, we have a ton of money we can be saving,” Hardy said.

Investing $50,000 in the audit identified potential savings estimated at $540,000 to $1.07 million.

Lorain Schools spends about $19 million a year for programs and resources on teaching and learning. That is equal to about 17 percent of the school district budget, Hardy said.

Hardy listed three other results of the analysis. It found some discrepancies in our vendors, the number of vendors and who supported different vendors.

“The findings and savings has created questions about our personnel practices which we plan to investigate further,” Hardy said.

Lorain Schools will be better stewards of taxpayer dollars, he said.

The audit contained a summary with potential savings in the various areas of school operations.

• $150,000 to $300,000 in transportation by modifying routes to optimize per student cost and maximize student use of school bus routes.

• $100,000 to $250,000 with new programs to manage and reduce overall spending on substitute teachers.

• $50,000 to $100,000 by new purchasing initiatives and evaluating lower cost alternatives for technology used in the district. Lorain Schools also may reduce the use of mobile hot spots.

• $25,000 to $50,000 in general administration by strategic planning and analyzing spending for legal services and other administrative purchases.

• $20,000 to $60,000 on instructional software by ensuring consistency of software licenses and optimizing their use.

• $75,000 to $150,000 in special revenues by analyzing spending related to professional development and other vendors.

On Feb. 8, Hardy unveiled the five major initiatives that will improve education for Lorain scholars. Those will be in place for the 2018-19 school year.

He also discussed finances and said Lorain Schools can repurpose its spending to pay for the new initiatives for The Lorain Promise, which is the district’s academic turnaround plan. There are “zero new anticipated costs to the district” for its general operating budget for the 2018-19 school year, he said.