Idea #8: Management Diet

Continuing to walk around & talk to neighbors, I've heard several comments on the number of administrative employees being excessive. Now I have to admit, this is something I would need to examine more closely in order to get the hard data. But I have read many general reports of public school districts having much greater ratios of nonteaching to teaching employees than private schools, and I would be surprised to find that Hillsboro is an exception.

This is not a problem unique to schools: many companies also hired too many managers in relation to individual contributors during past good times. During the recent economic difficulties, the best companies have been re-examining this ratio, and reducing unnecessary layers of middle management or increasing the number of contributors under each manager. This is especially effective when the individual contributors are educated professionals, who can largely due their day-to-day work independently & without much direct supervision.

We should carefully examine the administration and other nonteaching employees, and benchmark in relation to other school districts and private schools. I bet we will find opportunities there for cuts that will not directly impact the teaching staff.