New Report Says Washington State Public Schools and Universities Can Save Money by Contracting Out Food Services

SEATTLE, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from the Washington State Education Funding Coalition indicates that Washington State public schools and universities can save anywhere from 20%-40% by having professional on-site services companies handle or manage their dining or food services.

With the State of Washington projecting a $2.6 billion budget deficit in 2010 (following a $8 billion budget deficit in 2009), the funding that the State of Washington provides to its public schools and public universities will continue to decrease. The rapidly declining state financial support for schools and universities is putting an increasing amount of pressure on Washington State public schools and higher education institutions to find ways to reduce costs to make up for the declining direct state support. Consequently, many school districts and colleges have announced layoffs of teachers and/or instructional staff to help impact actual or anticipated budget deficits.

While these challenges are real, there are also some promising opportunities to create new business solutions to help address them.

As a result, the report recommends that public schools and universities in Washington State strongly consider utilizing professional on-site services firms to handle or manage non-instructional services (such as dining and food services) because it will allow schools "to focus both their funding and their expertise on their most important task: providing their students with a strong education, while leaving their supporting services to professional companies to handle."

The report cites several examples of how public school districts and universities in the U.S. have already benefitted from working with professional on-site services firms. For example, a public university partnered with a professional on-site services company to provide purchasing and culinary standards support to their dining program and, with just 20% of their current purchasing analyzed, they were able to save more than 14% in purchasing cost in year one. In another situation, a public school district partnered with a professional on-site services company to provide school lunches, and through active marketing and parent engagement, they were able to generate a 15% increase in school lunch revenue.

"As state and federal budgets continue to get tighter, it is important that public schools and universities focus their critical resources on educating students, while contracting out with professional on-site services firms to provide non-instructional services such as dining and food services," stated Steven White of the Washington Education Institute.

For a synopsis of the report, please go to the following link: http://www.mediafire.com/?23jzdjz1im3 .

For more information, please contact Steven White of the Washington Education Institute at [email protected]  or 206-202-3930.

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SOURCE Washington Education Institute