TAMPA — Hillsborough County schools superintendent Jeff Eakins wants to hire a Texas consulting firm to perform an efficiency audit as the district seeks to stop runaway spending and protect its reserves.
"We've done this in the past in the district," Eakins told the School Board during a workshop Tuesday on the budget. "We've contracted with organizations. It's time we do that."
Few details were available Wednesday, including the cost.
But, judging by past work by Gibson Consulting Group, the investment could more than pay for itself with cost savings.
For example: Gibson conducted a $900,000 efficiency study for the Clark County school district in Nevada. The report identified potential savings for the district of $52 million a year.
Hillsborough hopes to save at least that much to reverse a four-year trend of using its reserves to pay for ongoing expenses. At the workshop, Eakins outlined $142 million in ongoing expenses that represent increases in the past year, much of that stemming from changes to a new teacher pay scale.
The district's administrative ranks also grew by 55 positions last year, resulting in more spending in the district offices. A hiring freeze is now in effect for non-essential positions outside the schools.
Eakins said the purpose of the study is "to do a deeper dive" and "look at further efficiencies" that the district might want to consider. Gibson performed an efficiency study for Hillsborough in 2002 as part of a state cost-cutting initiative.
While he seeks board approval for the Gibson study, Eakins also will try to move forward on other topical issues:
• School buses. The district is on a plan to replace 100 buses each year and fell behind schedule after ordering the first 100 in June 2014. The proposed $21 million purchase would speed up that plan, ordering 200 77-seat buses that would arrive within eight months.
That move follows an accident Sept. 17 involving a bus with close to 300,000 miles that was driven by a brand-new driver. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office cited the driver, who was fired. But the incident focused renewed attention on the district's bus fleet, which is one of the oldest in the state.
Money for the buses will not come from the reserve account, but from the county community investment tax and local property tax dollars that have been put aside for capital spending since 2012.
• Students on the School Board. To provide input from students during discussions about campus issues, the district will have high school students rotate, two at a time, through board meetings. They would not vote, but they would lead the Pledge of Allegiance and comment during board discussions. They would be drawn from the Citizens Advisory Council, an existing body that gets student representatives from high schools. The students would meet monthly with Eakins or deputy superintendent Van Ayres.
• New principals. The board will be asked to approve new principals at Town 'N Country, Miles and Ruskin elementary schools and Bowers-Whitley Career Center.
Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol.