Your Morning Boost - Budget Crisis? Three Smart Ways to Cut School Spending Without Harming Students
November 25, 2025 • 8 mins
The reality of tighter budgets and impending cuts is top of mind for educators everywhere. 📉 This episode tackles the crucial puzzle: How do we maintain excellence and avoid increasing teacher workload when facing financial constraints? We explore three actionable strategies focused on operational efficiency that should be prioritized before touching the classroom. Learn why advocating for utility and energy audits (like switching to LED or smart thermostats) provides a continuous, high return on investment. We also discuss the value of centralizing and streamlining purchasing to eliminate "use it or lose it" spending, and the significant savings found in evaluating and eliminating software licensing redundancy. As financial constraints force us to be creative problem-solvers, this strategic thinking ensures every dollar saved goes right back to the core mission: supporting student success. Listen to become a more effective advocate for smart, less disruptive budget management! Find out more about what we do: AWB Education - awbeducation.org Grundmeyer Leader Services - grundmeyerleadersearch.com Got a mailbag question? Reach out to us at adam@awbeducation.org
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Thank You for Listening!This has been an episode from The Edify Network—Where the Whole Education Community Listens and Learns. We are dedicated to supporting everyone invested in K-12 success: teachers, leaders, parents, and community advocates.Want to keep the conversation going?
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This episode includes AI-generated content.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to your Morning Boost, brought to you by AWB Education.
Here we amplify knowledge, widen reach, and broaden impact in education,
delivering your daily dose of professional development. This program is
sponsored by Grundmeyer Leader Services, where together we are transforming education,
one leader at a time. Now get ready to amplify
(00:25):
your day with your Morning Boost.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, Happy Tuesday, everybody, and welcome back to your Morning Boost.
Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday ahead of you, and
we are here to infuse your day with a little smart,
strategic thinking designed to make your work in education even
more impactful. Today, we're going to dive back into the
mailbag just like we did yesterday. Got a great question
from Drake yesterday, and today we've got another one that's
(00:53):
going to help us address a topic that's really top
of mind for all educators, especially this time of year.
So we will be right back with question number two
this week as we dive into a little budget talk,
and we'll be doing so right after this. Okay, So
today's question is from Janelle, an educator in Michigan, who asks,
(01:19):
our school budget is tighter than ever and I'm hearing
about more significant cuts coming down the road. What are
some ways we can reduce spending that won't directly harm
our programs or increase teacher workload. Well, Janelle, that is
an awesome question, and I appreciate the fact that your
(01:39):
goal right out of the gates is to tackle the problem,
but do so by not directly harming your programs or
increasing teacher workload, which really at the heart of that
is having a direct impact on students. So I think
that's very honorable that that is really your ultimate goal
right here. And this is a puzzle of educational life
right now. How do we maintain excellence in the face
(02:01):
of all these financial constraints. There is not any magic bullet.
I'm just gonna say that outright. There are a lot
of strategies that will focus on operational efficiency and leveraging resources,
and those are the ones we want to try to
focus on before we ever touch the classroom. Often, these
decisions are going to have to be made at the
leadership level, and this is how you can try to
(02:22):
advocate for smart, less disruptive cuts and continue to contribute
to efficiency overall. So the first thing I would say,
or my first piece of advice would be to advocate
for a focus on maybe some utility and energy audits.
It's surprising how much schools spend on simple energy bills.
Many schools overlook this, and this could be pretty significant.
(02:44):
This can come from simply just optimizing utilities, look at
inefficiencies and heating, cooling, lighting systems. I know schools that
have switched to LED lighting throughout a district. Yeah, it's
an initial cost and sometimes that's difficult to be able
to stump. That can be able to do, but the
long term cost of switching to more efficient lighting really
(03:05):
has this continuous return on investment year after year. Like
for example, one district that I've worked with that they
installed smart thermostats and all of their buildings. The savings
in the first year alone from just automatically lowering the
temperature and unused wings and building that upon their schedule.
I mean, the savings was incredible. It was enough for
them to cover the cost of a full time instructional
(03:27):
aid in the classroom. Another option here is we can
promote sensualization and streamlining of purchasing. So a lot of
school districts there are individuals or maybe even individuals within
each team that will have a certain budget amount that
they will be allowed to spend. I know darn well
that if my supervisor says, you know, here's a budget
for five thousand dollars, I'm going to spend four nine
(03:50):
ninety nine dollars and maybe even a few cents because
I know that that budget is not going to come
back next year, so I've got to spend all of
the money that gets to And I get that, I
understand and that concept. However, that doesn't give us an
opportunity to really truly prioritize what it is that we
are going to spend money on. So one thing that
I've done in the past is have all of my
(04:11):
department chairs or my coaches or whatever my program is
that I'm working with give me their list of all
of the items that they feel that they need to
be able to produce the work that we want for
our students every single day, and I ask them to
do that in a prioritized order. Put the top of
your list to be the stuff I have to have
that we really cannot survive without, all the way down
(04:33):
to the things that if we have money available, we'd
really like to be able to get these things. And
then we get to a point where I've got a
certain budget that I'm able to work with, and I
can only get down the list to a certain point.
At that point, I start looking at the kind of
optional things or if we have money left over, And
maybe this is a point where we start plotting this
(04:55):
out year by year. Maybe the science department's going to
get a few of those extra things this year, but
next year they won't get any of those, and instead
we'll shift that focus over to math, or we'll shift
that over to the fifth grade team instead of the
fourth grade team this year. That gives an opportunity to
kind of share the load amongst your building or amongst
your district, with all departments chipping in but still being
(05:17):
able to get the exact thing they need without just
spending money, because money is there. Another recommendation is to
really evaluate your software licensing redundancy. A lot of school
districts might have multiple digital tools that really honestly perform
the same task, and it might be just because one
teacher prefers this over another. And I realize it's hard
(05:39):
to give some of those things up because we do.
We fall in love with things that we know and
things that we've used in the past. But when we
have multiple things that do the same thing, and we
have multiple licenses that are providing the same service. We
have a chance to identify and eliminate these redundancies and
really consolidate into one or two robusts platforms. This helps
(06:01):
save some money and it really simplifies training for staff
in the long run too. And if it's a tech
related thing, it's going to help your tech department focus
their efforts on supporting only one or two instead of
multiple software licenses. There was a recent study actually in
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where they talked
about smart operational adjustments. They talked about things like this,
(06:24):
and in fact, they consistently cited that having the least
negative impact on academic outcomes has to be a priority.
We all know the old adage says a penny saved
is a penny earned, and at times this is really
what we're looking for. Where can those pennies be saved
so that we have some pennies to spend on kids
down the road. All right, to quickly recap this budget
(06:52):
discussion in Janelle, thank you again for sending in your
question here, because unfortunately this is something that we are
all dealing with and are going to continue to have
to deal with, just as funding becomes tighter and tighter
and tighter for our public schools. But I want you
to remember a couple things. First of all, you want
to advocate or look for savings and operational efficiencies. Look
(07:12):
at your utilities, maybe some centralized purchasing, sometimes eliminating software redundancy.
Any of these things can help, and it's certainly an
area to look at first and foremost before we look
at that true impact on students. I really honestly believe
that financial challenges they force us to be better, and
they force us to be more creative problem solvers. I
(07:34):
guarantee that you have the resourcefulness and insight to advocate
for smart systemic changes and still protect the core mission
of your classrooms. This is just going to ensure that
every dollar we save goes right back to the heart
of our schools in supporting students. Again, thank you to Janelle,
and thank you to David for sending in your mailbag questions.
(07:55):
If you have questions you would like us to answer
here on your morning boost, please just leave a comment
of one of our social media platforms or send us
an email at Adam at AWB Education dot Org and
we'd be happy to feature you on our next episode
of Your Morning Boost. But until that time, have a
wonderful Tuesday, and thank you for listening. We will talk
(08:15):
with you again tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That concludes another episode of Your Morning Boost. We hope
today's daily dose of professional development helps you amplify knowledge,
widen reach, and broaden impact. Your Morning Boost is an
AWB Education production brought to you with the generous support
of Grundmeyer Leader Services. Join us again tomorrow for more.
(08:40):
Until then, keep boosting your impact.
Welcome to your Morning Boost, brought to you by AWB Education.
Here we amplify knowledge, widen reach, and broaden impact in education,
delivering your daily dose of professional development. This program is
sponsored by Grundmeyer Leader Services, where together we are transforming education,
one leader at a time. Now get ready to amplify
(00:25):
your day with your Morning Boost.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, Happy Tuesday, everybody, and welcome back to your Morning Boost.
Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday ahead of you, and
we are here to infuse your day with a little smart,
strategic thinking designed to make your work in education even
more impactful. Today, we're going to dive back into the
mailbag just like we did yesterday. Got a great question
from Drake yesterday, and today we've got another one that's
(00:53):
going to help us address a topic that's really top
of mind for all educators, especially this time of year.
So we will be right back with question number two
this week as we dive into a little budget talk,
and we'll be doing so right after this. Okay, So
today's question is from Janelle, an educator in Michigan, who asks,
(01:19):
our school budget is tighter than ever and I'm hearing
about more significant cuts coming down the road. What are
some ways we can reduce spending that won't directly harm
our programs or increase teacher workload. Well, Janelle, that is
an awesome question, and I appreciate the fact that your
(01:39):
goal right out of the gates is to tackle the problem,
but do so by not directly harming your programs or
increasing teacher workload, which really at the heart of that
is having a direct impact on students. So I think
that's very honorable that that is really your ultimate goal
right here. And this is a puzzle of educational life
right now. How do we maintain excellence in the face
(02:01):
of all these financial constraints. There is not any magic bullet.
I'm just gonna say that outright. There are a lot
of strategies that will focus on operational efficiency and leveraging resources,
and those are the ones we want to try to
focus on before we ever touch the classroom. Often, these
decisions are going to have to be made at the
leadership level, and this is how you can try to
(02:22):
advocate for smart, less disruptive cuts and continue to contribute
to efficiency overall. So the first thing I would say,
or my first piece of advice would be to advocate
for a focus on maybe some utility and energy audits.
It's surprising how much schools spend on simple energy bills.
Many schools overlook this, and this could be pretty significant.
(02:44):
This can come from simply just optimizing utilities, look at
inefficiencies and heating, cooling, lighting systems. I know schools that
have switched to LED lighting throughout a district. Yeah, it's
an initial cost and sometimes that's difficult to be able
to stump. That can be able to do, but the
long term cost of switching to more efficient lighting really
(03:05):
has this continuous return on investment year after year. Like
for example, one district that I've worked with that they
installed smart thermostats and all of their buildings. The savings
in the first year alone from just automatically lowering the
temperature and unused wings and building that upon their schedule.
I mean, the savings was incredible. It was enough for
them to cover the cost of a full time instructional
(03:27):
aid in the classroom. Another option here is we can
promote sensualization and streamlining of purchasing. So a lot of
school districts there are individuals or maybe even individuals within
each team that will have a certain budget amount that
they will be allowed to spend. I know darn well
that if my supervisor says, you know, here's a budget
for five thousand dollars, I'm going to spend four nine
(03:50):
ninety nine dollars and maybe even a few cents because
I know that that budget is not going to come
back next year, so I've got to spend all of
the money that gets to And I get that, I
understand and that concept. However, that doesn't give us an
opportunity to really truly prioritize what it is that we
are going to spend money on. So one thing that
I've done in the past is have all of my
(04:11):
department chairs or my coaches or whatever my program is
that I'm working with give me their list of all
of the items that they feel that they need to
be able to produce the work that we want for
our students every single day, and I ask them to
do that in a prioritized order. Put the top of
your list to be the stuff I have to have
that we really cannot survive without, all the way down
(04:33):
to the things that if we have money available, we'd
really like to be able to get these things. And
then we get to a point where I've got a
certain budget that I'm able to work with, and I
can only get down the list to a certain point.
At that point, I start looking at the kind of
optional things or if we have money left over, And
maybe this is a point where we start plotting this
(04:55):
out year by year. Maybe the science department's going to
get a few of those extra things this year, but
next year they won't get any of those, and instead
we'll shift that focus over to math, or we'll shift
that over to the fifth grade team instead of the
fourth grade team this year. That gives an opportunity to
kind of share the load amongst your building or amongst
your district, with all departments chipping in but still being
(05:17):
able to get the exact thing they need without just
spending money, because money is there. Another recommendation is to
really evaluate your software licensing redundancy. A lot of school
districts might have multiple digital tools that really honestly perform
the same task, and it might be just because one
teacher prefers this over another. And I realize it's hard
(05:39):
to give some of those things up because we do.
We fall in love with things that we know and
things that we've used in the past. But when we
have multiple things that do the same thing, and we
have multiple licenses that are providing the same service. We
have a chance to identify and eliminate these redundancies and
really consolidate into one or two robusts platforms. This helps
(06:01):
save some money and it really simplifies training for staff
in the long run too. And if it's a tech
related thing, it's going to help your tech department focus
their efforts on supporting only one or two instead of
multiple software licenses. There was a recent study actually in
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where they talked
about smart operational adjustments. They talked about things like this,
(06:24):
and in fact, they consistently cited that having the least
negative impact on academic outcomes has to be a priority.
We all know the old adage says a penny saved
is a penny earned, and at times this is really
what we're looking for. Where can those pennies be saved
so that we have some pennies to spend on kids
down the road. All right, to quickly recap this budget
(06:52):
discussion in Janelle, thank you again for sending in your
question here, because unfortunately this is something that we are
all dealing with and are going to continue to have
to deal with, just as funding becomes tighter and tighter
and tighter for our public schools. But I want you
to remember a couple things. First of all, you want
to advocate or look for savings and operational efficiencies. Look
(07:12):
at your utilities, maybe some centralized purchasing, sometimes eliminating software redundancy.
Any of these things can help, and it's certainly an
area to look at first and foremost before we look
at that true impact on students. I really honestly believe
that financial challenges they force us to be better, and
they force us to be more creative problem solvers. I
(07:34):
guarantee that you have the resourcefulness and insight to advocate
for smart systemic changes and still protect the core mission
of your classrooms. This is just going to ensure that
every dollar we save goes right back to the heart
of our schools in supporting students. Again, thank you to Janelle,
and thank you to David for sending in your mailbag questions.
(07:55):
If you have questions you would like us to answer
here on your morning boost, please just leave a comment
of one of our social media platforms or send us
an email at Adam at AWB Education dot Org and
we'd be happy to feature you on our next episode
of Your Morning Boost. But until that time, have a
wonderful Tuesday, and thank you for listening. We will talk
(08:15):
with you again tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That concludes another episode of Your Morning Boost. We hope
today's daily dose of professional development helps you amplify knowledge,
widen reach, and broaden impact. Your Morning Boost is an
AWB Education production brought to you with the generous support
of Grundmeyer Leader Services. Join us again tomorrow for more.
(08:40):
Until then, keep boosting your impact.
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