NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — School districts around Middle Tennessee are looking at outsourcing some of the lowest-paying positions like janitors, school bus drivers and cafeteria workers to save money.But these employees could lose benefits like health care coverage or a buy-in to the state pension system.
Sumner County Board of Education has debated outsourcing 750 transportation, custodial and food service jobs and Metro Nashville Public schools are soliciting bids for contractors to take over custodial and groundskeeping work, affecting 665 jobs.
The Tennessean reports that Middle Tennessee schools have a mixed track record with job outsourcing. Some districts have been using contractors for years with few problems, but little savings. Others have tried it but returned the jobs to district control.
Kim Stevens works as a bus driver and a substitute cafeteria worker. Her two jobs combined barely pay $10,000 a year, but she gets the benefit of government quality health care coverage and buy-in to the state pension program.
If Sumner County outsourced her job, she would still get a paycheck, but not those benefits.
"It's all I have," said Stevens, who has been driving a bus for five years. "It's not just the job, it's the relationship you have with the kids."
Some Nashville schools tried to use outside contractors in the early 1990s, but it ended badly with allegations of sloppy work, conflict with school employees and allegations of theft.
Metro spokeswoman Olivia Brown said the main problem was that the first attempt only had a limited number of schools and it only involved contractors running the night custodial shifts. That created conflict and confusion with the day shift custodians, who were Metro employees.
"It's not an apples-to-apples comparison," she said.
Wilson County schools contracted its bus service from 2000 to 2006, but decided to take back control because the contractor wasn't able to keep up with the fast-growing district's need for new bus drivers and routes.
"We were having trouble from a control standpoint," said Mickey Hall, deputy director of Wilson schools.
But they have used contractors successfully since 1999 for custodial services.
"It wasn't done from the standpoint of saving money," Hall said. "We did it because we were having trouble keeping the positions staffed and the buildings clean."
Hall knows that while contractors usually pay more, the move can hurt workers, too.
"They pay more per hour, but your benefits go away," he said.
___
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted 4/10/2010 4:07 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print
if you made $10.46 / hr with no benefits... you would WANT to leave
Comments
Post a Comment