City School Board picks group for efficiency study

By Stephanie Kassab
Published: June 5, 2008

The Charlottesville School Board selected the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget to conduct a study measuring the city school division’s use of resources.

According to School Board Chairman Ned Michie, the division will pay between $25,000 to $30,000 for a study worth $100,000.

In addition to measuring the utilization of resources, the review is intended to determine the size and efficiency of the central administration. The study will also help identify possible cost-saving areas such as curriculum, food services, human resources, technology and transportation.

The School Board received proposals from two other vendors to conduct the study: the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, which would have cost the division $13,500, and the Commonwealth Educational Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University, which would have cost about $50,000. After reviewing all three proposals, the School Board was impressed with the comprehensiveness of VDPB studies.

“One thing that’s appealing is that it’s a much broader study,” Michie said. “One of the other benefits [is] we’re only paying a quarter of the price.”

Board member Kathleen Galvin added that she was satisfied with VDPB’s earlier studies, noting that it was very thorough and that all had been conducted in a consistent format.

Choosing VDPB obligates the city school division to implement at least 50 percent of VDPB’s recommendations or at least 50 percent of its possible cost reductions.

One critic of the size of central administration approved of the School Board’s decision to conduct an efficiency study.

“I’ve been very concerned about the size of central office,” said Karl Ackerman, a father of two children who attend city schools. “It really has grown steadily and very quickly over the last six or seven years. … There needs to be someone on the outside looking at our division and comparing it to a similar-size division.”Superintendent Rosa S. Atkins and Michie met with all three agencies that conduct school system efficiency studies. At the School Board’s last meeting, both Atkins and Michie had recommended that the school division choose the Virginia Department of Planning to conduct the evaluation because of the thoroughness of its past studies.

The final report could be finished as soon as December.