A little more than half of all schools — 50.4% — contract out for the cleaning and maintenance of district buildings. The 271 districts choosing to contract out this service is down from the 277 districts that did so in 2018. There had been a steady increase in the overall usage of private custodial services until recently. At least 50% of districts have contracted out custodial services each year since 2015, and it is the most commonly privatized service.
Graphic 3: Custodial Service Contracting, 2005-2019
In 2019, two districts added new private custodial services, while eight decided to switch back to providing the service in-house.
Nottawa Community Schools added new custodial staff through its private employee leasing agency and expect lower costs than in-house service. Adams Township School District contracted out and split the service between two different firms after bidding out for competitively priced providers.
Au Gres-Sims School District brought their custodial services back in-house in hopes that they would lower employee turnover. Big Bay de Noc Schools brought custodial services back in-house as well but declined to explain its reasons. Carney Nadeau Public Schools ended a custodial contract with a single private employee after the contract expired. They decided to maintain in-house services instead of contracting out in 2019.
Cassopolis Schools explained that they no longer contract out custodial services, not as a cost-savings decision, but because officials reported it as the best thing for the district. Beecher Community Schools plans on switching private custodial service providers and were in the process of bidding out the service. In the meantime, custodial services are done in-house. Lake Linden-Hubbell Schools brought services back in-house after its private contractor closed, though officials reported that they plan to rebid for contracted custodial services in the future.
South Haven Public Schools’ custodial vendor went out of business and district officials brought the service back in-house. District officials expect the decision to slightly increase costs. St. Charles Community Schools brought its one custodian contracted through Professional Contract Management Incorporated back in-house. The school did not elaborate on the reason for this decision.