School District 42, Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows, in British Columbia, will bring Information Technology (IT) services in house as part of a review of district cost saving measures. The district is finalizing its 2011-12 budget and anticipates annual savings to be about $100,000.
“We are very pleased that the district is willing to look at its financial situation in an open way. They questioned the assumption that private is cheaper and in house or union is more expensive and the result is that they have already found cost savings,” says CUPE 703 president Leslie Franklin.
The IT services were contracted to a private company close to ten years ago. Franklin says that given the anticipated annual savings of $100,000, the private contract may have cost the district over half a million dollars more during the contracted-out period than if the service had been provided by district staff. A number of other areas have been contracted out and the district has indicated that it will review them for possible additional savings.
Franklin says that the first in-house positions have been posted and it appears that the cost savings should start soon.