Author: Hope

As the cost of education continues to increase, those tasked with paying for educational costs have continued to feel the strain. Cutting costs without hurting the quality of the educational services may feel impossible given the importance of providing the best possible educational experience for students.

But there are areas where schools and districts can improve efficiency in spending and take steps to reduce costs and maximize the effectiveness of each dollar spent without sacrificing the quality of education. Of course, developing creative money-saving ideas in budgeting and teaching methodologies can save some cash, but they can only extend so far.

How can schools save money?

Money-saving strategies go hand-in-hand with schools just as much as pencils, blackboards, and desks. There are any number of areas where school funding can be wasted, and it takes organization and discipline to help school districts save money. Energy costs, supplies, facility maintenance, transportation, food service, and employee salaries are just a few areas where  schools must devote a constant flow of cash.

Learning where and how schools can save money is a good first step, but implementing cost-saving measures can be a major challenge. School operations teams struggle across the board. Equipping your organization with the right mindset, tools, and resources to enact a savings plan is often the difference between a successful, optimized savings plan and a frustrating experience.

These 10 strategies for cutting costs allow you to ensure your school budget is under control and costs are kept low without sacrificing your school operations quality.

Gone are the days of harried teachers elbowing each other for turns in the copier room. Today’s next-generation photocopiers in schools are more valuable than ever to educators. In fact, schools should still be budgeting and training for what has come to be known as the multifunction printer (MFP), offered under such brands as Konica Minolta or Kyocera.

When COVID-19 closed schools in America in March 2020, educators adapted to remote learning with admirable speed and demanded that technology and equipment change along with them. Yesterday’s educators worried about plagiarism, roving eyes, and cheat sheets; today’s must add internet security, remote learning, and collaboration tools to the list.

Instead of relying on traditional copiers, which would have had limited usefulness, districts instead are turning to MFPs, which offer functions ranging from data processing to onboarding tools and from malware protection to personalized documents. They allow teachers to scan and email assignments, grade multiple-choice tests, and store data, among numerous other class management functions. MFPs further provide office staff and administrators opportunities to streamline and minimize the documentation and paper output education often requires.

Saving Money by Upgrading

While multifunctional printers may sound expensive to perpetually cash-strapped education budgeters, these new photocopiers actually help keep costs down in a number of ways. Old-school copiers use more energy and generate more heat, costing significantly more to operate than MFPs. Users make their time more efficient. After teachers have assessed student assignments using an MFP, the data can be stored safely in the cloud, on a flash drive, or emailed, minimizing manual filing, use of toner, paper waste, and energy costs.

Besides financial savings, these printers save educators time as well. Like it or not, assessments drive education. Students are assessed in the classroom as well as schoolwide in all core subjects, and teachers often give practice tests to prepare students. With MFPs, teachers can print and scan student answer sheets, analyze results, decipher patterns, and share information with stakeholders on a regular basis. This process is an option whether students are on campus or learning remotely.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Aaron Ott
Government Accounts Manager
314-960-2884
aott@kmbs.konicaminolta.us

Jason Bradshaw
Government Accounts Manager
402-250-7545
jbradshaw@kmbs.konicaminolta.us

Jason Sullivan
VP of Sales – Central Region
636-368-4301
jason.sullivan@kmbs.konicaminolta.us

Learn More About Konica Minolta

Dan Woolly
National Account Manager
972-893-1155
dan.woolly@da.kyocera.com

Learn More About Kyocera

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

General inquiries: iltpp@newsela.com

New Newsela Schools or Districts
Jenny Pearl
Illinois Partnerships
847-691-1019
Jenny.Pearl@newsela.com

Current Newsela Partners
Nicky Dunlap
Illinois Partnerships
773-495-0703
Nicky.Dunlap@newsela.com

Learn More About Newsela

Compared to other industries, education faces a unique set of supply chain issues.

Across the country, schools are dealing with a shortage of basic supplies—from paper and pencils to technology and toilet paper. As such, the education sector is constantly looking for ways to improve the way they manage their facilities and equipment. This means making sure the right tools and technology are in place to help students learn safely and effectively.

Education is not exempt from supply chain challenges

The supply chain is one of the most important aspects of a school’s operations; it’s what keeps students learning in climate-controlled buildings, classrooms stocked with textbooks, and teachers equipped with adequate technology.

But supply chain challenges within the education industry are nothing new. Districts often rely on vendors that specialize in specific services or have multiple providers for each piece of technology they use. To keep schools and instructional facilities running smoothly, education leaders need tools to help them make the best decisions in key areas of school operations.

• Instructional technology: When it comes to the classroom, there are few things more critical than instructional technology. Teachers depend on computers and tablets to create interactive lessons that make learning more engaging. Students use them to do research and complete assignments. But when schools struggle with scarce or out-of-date technology, students lose out on an important part of their education. The shortage of laptops and tablets can lead to higher costs for schools that are trying to keep up with growing student needs.
• Furniture: Steel is used in desks, chairs, lockers, and other classroom furniture. It also goes into construction projects like building new schools or renovating old ones—but when there isn’t enough supply on the market, contractors have no choice but to pass along those higher costs to school districts or higher educational institutions.
• School lunches: Labor shortages, along with rising food costs and other supply chain disruptions, are impacting processing and delivery schedules. This is forcing schools to look for new ways to manage their supply chains and ensure that students have access to healthy meals every day.

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K–12 students earn college credits while learning how to use the tools and technology that will give them an advantage in future careers.

by Rebecca Torchia

Rebecca Torchia is a web editor for EdTech: Focus on K–12. Previously, she has produced podcasts and written for several publications in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and her hometown of Pittsburgh.

Junior Gunner Kimble typically gets to Johnsburg High School around 7 a.m., but by 7:30 he’s heading out the door again. Kimble makes this quick departure because he participates in a dual-credit program through Illinois’s College of Lake County. A bus takes him and other participants to the college’s Advanced Technology Center, where they’re learning trade skills.

CLC built the Advanced Technology Center to prepare students for industrial careers, specifically in manufacturing.

“We could see a limit in terms of the supply we could create to establish a skilled workforce pipeline for the manufacturing sector,” says Lori Suddick, president of the College of Lake County. “The manufacturing sector in Lake County is strong, and it’s a necessary sector for the economic growth and sustainability of the communities that we serve.”

DIVE DEEPER: Colleges aim to fill workforce needs with tech training centers.

The college partnered with local high schools as part of the dual-credit program, providing an opportunity for students to earn college credits tuition free.

“Last year alone, we served over 2,200 dual-credit students and saved families $1.5 million in tuition and fees,” says Ali O’Brien, the college’s vice president of community and workforce partnerships. “The very first students to walk through the doors at the Advanced Technology Center and put their hands on the equipment in this industrial technology lab were our high school dual-credit students.”

The students get to work with industry-specific manufacturing equipment and advanced technologies, all aimed at helping prepare them for the workforce they’ll be entering.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

John Buttita 
Sales Manager
877-325-3380
johnbut@cdw.com

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As hard as it is to admit, cybercrime is a serious worldwide problem. In fact, the global volume of cyber attacks reached an all-time high in Q4 2022, with nearly 1,200 weekly attacks per organization. Overall, 2022 witnessed a 38% jump in cyber attacks compared to the previous year.

Unfortunately, K-12 education hasn’t fared much better. Malicious hackers are targeting the industry in record numbers, putting student information at risk like never before. Unsurprisingly, this unprecedented uptick in cybercriminal activity has reinvigorated the topic of data loss prevention (DLP).

In this blog, ManagedMethods walk you through the basics of data loss prevention. From what it is to how it works, we’ll even give you 10 data loss prevention best practices to help you protect your district’s data…

Check out the latest information on the Microsoft Tech Community to learn what’s new in Microsoft Teams for Education. Microsoft has been working on some great new updates, and this blog spot is a perfect way to stay connected.

K-12 DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY SAVES TIME AND IMPROVES STUDENT SAFETY AND DATA SECURITY IN GOOGLE WORKSPACE FOR EDUCATION WITH MANAGEDMETHODS

BACKGROUND

Rich Chiuppi has a lot on his plate. As Director of Technology at East Prairie School District #73, he’s part of a two-person team managing the entire district’s IT and cybersecurity needs.

“I oversee the technology, implementations, and security, so I wear a lot of hats,” he explains. Although generally not as big as other districts in the Chicago area, East Prairie’s 550 students and 80 staff are more than enough to keep Rich busy, especially when it comes to cloud technology.

CHALLENGE

As Chiuppi recalls, East Prairie recognized early on that the industry was trending toward the cloud. At one point, the school hosted all of its student information and library systems on in-house servers but soon realized that moving them to the cloud was the better option.

“We gradually started phasing things into the cloud for the reason that it was more effective, and in some situations, the industry was kind of forcing us in that direction,” he says. “If you’re hosting certain things on-premise, it becomes cost-prohibitive over time.”

So, East Prairie started using Google Workspace for Education Plus, with a few Apple and Microsoft applications in the mix. According to Chiuppi, it was an interesting transition because teachers were at first allowed to try different applications on their own.

“We wanted them to have the flexibility and creativity to use technology in the classroom,” he explains. “As time went on, we started to realize how data was being used by some of these vendors, how certain services behaved, and how many services we inherited from letting teachers have that freedom. Then, SOPPA came along, and it really opened our eyes like, ‘Oh, this is what’s going on?’”

SOPPA — the Student Online Personal Protection Act — is an Illinois law that protects the privacy and security of students’ online data at school. Its intention is to regulate how edtech vendors manage student data, but it also requires school districts like East Prairie to implement a more rigorous vetting process for solutions that capture student information.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

David Waugh
Sales and Marketing Vice President
303-415-3643
dwaugh@managedmethods.com

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