The school district, which has been wetting its toes with the idea of consolidation and shared services among the municipalities, today may provide guidance to staff about its position as to the level of participation in the areas of human resources, purchasing and information technology.
The proposal on the table is to consolidate these departments with the same departments in the city of Reno as well as Washoe County.
Washoe County and the city of Reno have opted to move forward with the process with desires to maximize cost efficiencies in different areas. The idea is that consolidation will save money in the long run.
In recent months, the school board has heard presentations from its own staff and on Oct. 6 approved releasing a request for proposal to study where savings could be found in human resources, purchasing and information technology and of what benefit it could be to the district.
The release of the proposal signals a timeline through November in which trustees will hear from various consultants interested in conducting a study that will weigh the pros and cons of participating, assessing costs to the district and identifying areas that would benefit the district by sharing services. Nov. 24 is the final opportunity for the board to opt in or out of consolidating with the county and city.
Also at today’s meeting, trustees will decide whether to issue medium-term obligations to finance the addition of 13 buses to the district fleet, which are being financed for $870,000.
The district has been in a program since 1993 to acquire and replace older buses, which are done so with a five-year funding cycle.
The actual cost of this cycle’s buses is down from a total of $1.105 million as the 2009-2010 budget allowed $236,000 for school buses. If approved, annual payments of $245,000 would be made.
The Board of Trustees meeting starts at 4 p.m. today at the district’s administration building at 425 E. Ninth St. in Reno.
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