The Wake County Board of Education is collecting suggestions about budget improvements on its website. We’ve gone through the 800-some suggestions and put together a list below of the ones that stood out. Some are good, some not so good. Make your own suggestion to the WCPSS here and read the full list below.
- Do not let school buses idle while parked. (Given that the buses are diesels we’re not sure this would work.)
- Repaint the roofs white to cut down on cooling costs.
- Get rid of central warehouse and have supplies shipped directly to schools.
- Discontinue paying for taxi and cab services for students who have been suspended from riding the bus.
- Go to waterless urinals.
- Consider using open source software.
- Examine the background check program. WCPSS should be able to get free NC background checks.
- Let students take over certain cafeteria and janitorial duties for course credit.
- Partner with universities for non-paid internship programs.
- Sponsor a system wide Energy Conservation Week. (Why not make it a whole year?)
- Pay cuts to “upper level” management.
- Work with professional sports players to donate their salaries for one season to support public school. (It’s a Hail Mary, but what the heck.)
- Each child bring $1 to school on the first day of every month.
- Increase requirement for Free and Reduced lunch program.
- Elimination or reduction in all pre-K programs funded by the district.
- Cancel the show with Greg Thomas. (We’re not exactly sure what this is.)
- Alternate weeks of music and art and hire two part-time teachers in place of two full-time teachers.
- Stop spending so much funding on data collection.
- Pack bag lunches for free and reduced student lunches. Do away with the hot food
- line.
- Charge a fee to take elective courses.
- Charge students to rent out sports uniforms.
- Use parent volunteers to replace some positions in school— make it mandatory.
- Encourage a local business to adopt a school and make tax free donations to that school.
- Remove all lockers from all high schools.
- Charge families a fee per student, like tuition. (Wouldn’t that be like, ummm, private schools?)
- Pay cuts to all WCPSS employees. (Especially the ones who get paid the least!)
- Sell all computer equipment and get back to basics.
