Local officials in Richmond, Virginia, will be considering the recommendations of a consulting group as they look for ways to cut expenses within the city's school budget.
The firm indicated that a combination of job cuts and changes to health and dental insurance benefit offerings for current and retired employees could yield savings as high as $23 million, CBS affiliate WTVR reports. The job cuts would include a combination of teachers, teacher aides, administrative personnel, security staff and custodians, eliminating a total of 92 positions compared to the 300 that an earlier budget draft called for.
About $6 million of the savings the firm proposes would come from transportation costs to be lowered by hiring a private company to take charge of maintenance facilities as well as transportation itself. Officials have been seeking a way to close a budget gap of about $24 million, meaning the firm's proposed cuts come up somewhat short, although they did find some ways for the school district to increase revenues as well.
One suggestion was to establish long-term leases with communications companies who would build cell towers on certain school properties. Another involved optimizing Medicaid reimbursement billing.
