Chesterfield School Board considers efficiency review

The Chesterfield County school system is considering having the state conduct an efficiency review of its noninstructional operations.

Last night, the county's School Board discussed whether to request participation in the Virginia School Efficiency Review Program run by the state's Department of Budget and Planning. The department hires an independent consultant to look at possible efficiencies in areas such as human resources, finance, purchasing, special education, transportation, technology management and food services. The goal is for recommended savings to go into instruction.

Since the program started five years ago, 32 Virginia school systems have participated, including New Kent, Dinwiddie and Louisa counties and the cities of Richmond and Petersburg. Savings in Richmond-area school systems range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $3 million annually.

Tracie Coleman, chief financial officer for Petersburg, said savings from an efficiency review in 2007 have been incorporated into the school budgets.

Dinwiddie Superintendent Charles Maranzano Jr. said an efficiency review in 2006 produced $1.5 million in savings annually for the school system. The review contained more than 100 recommendations, of which the school system implemented 97 percent.

Chesterfield school officials are talking about participating in the program in anticipation of shrinking budgets in the coming years. Federal stimulus money averted more than $20 million in budget cuts for the next fiscal year, but actions need to be taken to prepare for when that money goes away in two years, said Kathryn S. Kitchen, assistant superintendent for business and finance.

The school system is responsible for paying 25 percent of the cost of the efficiency review and must implement at least 50 percent of the recommendations. Based on 2007 state estimates, Chesterfield will have to pay $23,000 to $25,000, Kitchen said.

Chesterfield resident Brenda Stewart questioned whether it is wise to have school personnel spend time on questionnaires as part of the review. She said a number of audits have been performed in recent years and that many of those recommendations have yet to be implemented. She also said the board should look at the recommendations for other school systems and try to implement some of them.

Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome said he took to heart Stewart's comments, but "I think we need to err on the side of our commitment to the public to be transparent."

Newsome said school officials would do more research on the issue and provide a report on what other systems have done.

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or .

Staff writer Jeremy Slayton contributed to this report.