Contracting out for custodial work continued apace from 2007. In 2008, 97 districts contracted out this service, an increase of 21.7 percent from the previous year and an increase of 168.2 percent since 2003.
Graphic 4: Districts Contracting Custodial Service
The following 18 districts entered into new privatization arrangements for custodial services.
Graphic 5: School Districts New to Custodial Service Contracting
Outsourcing custodial services continued to show impressive savings for districts, including:
Southfield Public Schools custodial services expects to save between $2.5 million and $3 million over the next three years.[*] This is roughly equal to between $94 and $114 per pupil per year.
Kalkaska Public Schools saves between $275,000 and $300,000 a year. That means it is saving between $158 and $173 per pupil per year for its 1,736 students.
Garden City Public Schools saves just over $1 million a year, or $184 per pupil per year.
[*] Southfield also contracted for food and transportation services. The district expects to save between $1.5 million and $2.3 million on transportation costs and approximately $550,000 on food service costs over the next 3 year. By privatizing all three services, officials expect over the next 3 years to save a total of $14.7 million and $21.5 million. This is between $557 and $814 per student per year, which is by far the largest per-pupil savings encountered by the Mackinac Center to date.