Fiscal Efficiency Committee

Charge

With assistance and guidance from the Council:

1. Identify and work with the district to implement strategies that will enable the district to lower overall spending, direct more funding to educational improvements and control the tax burden.

2. Draw on the various options in the McKinsey Consulting Group’s report, which found that the District could realize as much as $100 million annually through more efficient operation of its non-instructional activities alone. In particular, the committee should consider:

1. Creating incentives for district employees (both non-instructional and instructional) to choose the most cost effective health benefit plan. This strategy could be modeled after the City or State process.
2. Continuing the work underway to centralize purchasing in Milwaukee Public Schools and also implement other best practices in purchasing suggested in the McKinsey Report.

3. Report back to the Council by mid- August on the status of the district’s implementation of the McKinsey Report options – detailing the proposed savings, the timeline for implementation, and the reason for not implementing any items. The report should also include an overview of how the district plans to ensure accountability for each initiative they embrace in order to achieve the proposed level of savings within the recommended timeframe.

4. Consider other strategies in addition to those within the scope of the McKinsey report as guided by the Council.

5. Report back regularly to the Council on the progress made toward each effort or the strategies in place to achieve them and with recommendations on other strategies the district should consider.

6. To the extent possible, the committee should seek to realize any savings for the 2009-2010 MPS budget currently under consideration. To the extent that is not achievable, the committee should ensure savings for the next school year.