A School Swap initiative has allowed the Howard County Public School System to cut spending for new materials, equipment, and furniture, according to continuous improvement specialist Teri Dennison, who said the county has saved an estimated $260,000 over the last three years.

The Baltimore Sun reports,

Since its debut in the 2014-2015 school year, more than 1,700 items have “swapped” locations, finding a new use at schools or school offices. Schools and offices work together to find a space for surplus school resources and furniture, which is available at no cost.

Dennison said she was assigned to program improvements at the logistics center in 2014, when she noticed the school system’s warehouse was filled with unused items, including desks, tables, chairs, cabinets and shelving.

“They would either be recycled or sold as public surplus and very little got back into the schools,” she said. “My parents were Depression-era people, so we always thought you have to use what you have or find a place for it where it can be reused.”

After conversations with the chief of accountability, director of purchasing and web team, Dennison helped develop a hub on the Howard County public schools’ website, where teachers, faculty, staff and administrators could search for materials and furniture they needed.

To inform others of unwanted materials, staff can post items on the school system’s website, where they can be claimed by other schools and offices at no cost.

Technology items that have memory cards are not available through the site, Dennison said, but are handled by the technology department. Warehouse truck drivers often decide what items are salvageable, sometimes breaking down tables to reuse the tabletop or legs.

…

As the initiative continues to grow across the school system, Dennison said she hopes to see similar efforts in neighboring counties and perhaps a larger swap between school systems.

“I’m feeling extremely excited about it,” Dennison said.

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Plans to renovate three of Anne Arundel County’s most dilapidated elementary schools are still on track in County Executive Steve Schuh’s proposed budget for FY 2018 — but the county’s auditor cautioned Tuesday that more money will have to be added to the projects down the road.

In her annual comments on the proposed budget, Auditor Jodee Dickinson told council members the county will have to find an additional $13 million for revitalization projects at Tyler Heights, Edgewater, and Richard Henry Lee Elementary Schools to meet anticipated costs.

The Capital Gazette reports,

The projected shortfall is the result of timing, school and county officials said.

The Board of Education submitted its construction budget to the state last fall, before board members decided to renovate the three elementary schools instead of constructing entirely new buildings, according to Alex Szachnowicz, chief operating officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

When Schuh’s administration crafted its budget proposal months later, staff did not have board estimates for revitalization costs and so based suggested funding levels on their own projections. Board of Education construction officials have since weighed in, advising the auditor that the projects will be more expensive.

Despite the disconnect, Szachnowicz said money to pay for planning for all three projects in FY18 is intact and enough to keep the projects on track. The county could wait to increase funding for the schools in future budget years, he said.

“The adjustments are going to have to be made,” Szachnowicz said. “I think the question is, when does this body and this administration think they have to be made — sooner or later?”

Dickinson noted that the county won’t have much wiggle room for borrowing money in FY19, which is already scheduled for several large capital projects. If officials can’t come up with enough money for the school projects, future budget shortfalls could mean delays, she said.

Under the current plan, all three elementary schools would open during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Fiscal year 2019 is a very, very heavy bond year in our program,” Dickinson said. Waiting for future budget years to make up the entire projected funding gap “would make (fiscal year) 2019 unaffordable, I think.”