How Will School District Cut $141 Million Deficit?

I think that how we frame this question limits us finding an optimal answer; an answer that will minimize the cost and maximize the student performance simultaneously. We have to look at the big picture.
If we were designing the education system today, I am sure we would have a very different system. There would have been some components that we don’t have today, and some institutions that we take for granted would not have been there.
One of the later is the San Diego Unified School District. Let’s do the daring, and think of a world without the local school districts; a world in which there is a centralized state level support and measurement system, and empowered schools. Most of the decision making authority is localized to the schools, but we measure and reward the schools based on their performance. The center is lightweight, and is there not to manage but to support the schools.
Here is what we would accomplish:
- Drastically cut the overhead cost without touching the teacher and school budgets
- Make the schools more independent and responsive to local needs
- Through measurement and benchmarking, make sharing across schools much easier.
With today’s technology and right monitoring systems, we can really manage such a super district very effectively. In fact, that is how the best companies of today got so competitive in 80s and 902; by cutting the layers and fat in the middle.

October 6, 2010 at 10:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )