Data and Schools - The Cost of Local Control?

Local control of education has been a major discussion in many districts across Vermont.  While there are many reasons to support it, there are ways that it can perpetuate expenditures that have little to do with the goals or values of local control or excellent education.  A recent AOE report “Designing our Future” accurately targeted some of the money pits that exist.

It can perpetuate expenditures at the expense of excellent education…

“There are currently over 50 separate administrative units that oversee Vermont’s supervisory unions….A statewide system could leverage the capacity of the state as a contractor, for the procurement of centralized services. Student data systems, special education systems, financial systems, to name a few, could be centralized at the state level and eliminate variation across entities.”

The report goes on to identify some specifics….”Statewide system procurement would leverage competitive pricing do the market share held by the state as compared to individual SUs.  Additionally, the procurement of supplies and equipment could leverage state contracts, and the ability of the state to negotiate more competitive prices...”

Could a unified state student information system (SIS) save funds without eroding local control?  Current systems are designed for districts even larger than the approximately 75000 students in Vermont.  At current rates, an online student data system for all the students in the state would cost less than $8 per student, a fraction of a percent (0.04%) of the annual per student expenditure.  If that number went down to $4 per student the savings would be $300,000. With respect to procurement of supplies and equipment, the state already has contract pricing available. Also, a large number of districts have joined cooperatives for food services and property services getting even greater discounts, so it is hard to find more significant dollar savings there.

Having one state-wide SIS could save more than $2,000,000 in local costs!

The report didn’t quantify the real potential savings - time for school personnel.  Every district has someone who spends part or all of their time doing the standardized reporting required by the state.  Large districts may have one or two f.t.e. dedicated to this; small districts may use an aide, a secretary, an IT technician, or add the work to an administrator such as a curriculum director, principal, or superintendent.  Someone in the district will spend a significant amount of time downloading, scrubbing, and formatting information so it will be ready to upload to the state system. Ask the data managers, read their discussions on School-IT, talk to superintendents…..hours, days, and weeks were spent on getting the spring census ready.  When you include the other required annual reports (fall census, CIRS, SECT, Child Count, ADM, etc.), the challenge is more daunting.

Having one system for SIS statewide could potentially show significant savings in direct staff costs as well as indirect savings in terms of expertise, efficiency, training, turnover and hiring.  If statewide standardization of data systems could save every district the time equivalent of 1/2 f.t.e. on SIS management, the annual savings could be more than $2,000,000 statewide.

Is the value we gain for local control worth this expenditure?

Is it possible to save this amount of time?  I asked a colleague who had years of experience with managing district data systems …he spent hours and hours preparing his district data for the standard required Vermont reports.  When he went over to upload similar data for a New Hampshire district, it was “a push of a button”.

So what is the value of local control in Vermont?