For the past several years, New Jersey school districts have faced financial challenges driven by the state’s 2% property tax cap that limits local revenue growth, and mandatory, unsustainable double-digit cost increases for critical operational expenses, most notably in health care premiums. This creates an unavoidable annual funding deficit, often forcing districts into the reactive cycle of cutting costs for essential programs.
To move beyond the pattern of costly reductions, school leaders must continue executing the fundamental shift already in motion: the continuous, proactive, strategic optimization of all non-instructional costs. Maintaining the leverage of updated systems will streamline operations and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO). This ongoing commitment to managed and predictable operational models ensures budget dollars are effectively reallocated back into the classroom.
Strategies to Consider:
1. Centralized Print Services To boost operational efficiency, many districts have already adopted or are in the process of transitioning from the costly decentralized model of individual printers in classrooms and administrative offices to fully managed service using centralized multifunction printers (MFPs). This immediately converts the unpredictable CapEx for hardware and supplies into a fixed, predictable cost-per-print (CPP) operational expense. A managed service provider (MSP) assumes responsibility for equipment maintenance, supply logistics and toner recycling, effectively eliminating the common, time-consuming IT support requests associated with printing. This outsourcing of responsibility reduces supply waste and frees up valuable in-house IT labor, while providing districts with analytics of usage and cost for local (school) and district level.
2. Interactive Whiteboards: Modernization for Maximum Lifespan and Service Reliability Modernization efforts must move away from the high-maintenance projector-based interactive whiteboards toward interactive flat panel displays (IFPDs). Since the investment for a high-quality IFPD is comparable to the cost of purchasing and installing a traditional projector/interactive whiteboard system, the long-term TCO is dramatically different.
The goal is long-term cost containment, which is achieved not just by the technology itself, but by a key procurement measure: a minimum of five, but increasingly more common seven-year manufacturer warranties. The longer warranties ensure the IFPD’s full lifecycle is extended and protected, converting the unpredictable cost of component failure into a fixed, included service. This model transfers repair risk entirely to the vendor, gaining budget predictability and seeing a significant reduction in the volume of costly, unexpected IT support requests.
3. Cloud Adoption (SaaS) and Federal Resource Maximization The ongoing transition to software as a service (SaaS)—using cloud-based platforms for email, student information systems (SIS), and learning management systems (LMS)—has in many cases become instrumental in eliminating unnecessary CapEx and reducing IT labor. By embracing cloud-based services, districts eliminate the need for purchasing, housing, and maintaining local servers and software licenses. Moreover, districts can also strategically leverage federal resources like E-rate funding. This funding source should be maximized not only for traditional network hardware but also for managed internal broadband services (MIBS) and basic maintenance of internal connections (BMIC).
4. Transitioning to Cloud-Centric Devices Districts must strategically evaluate the cost-benefit of maintaining expensive, traditional Windows-based devices, recognizing that most services are now cloud-based and accessible via a standard web browser. This browser-first reality makes the shift to lightweight, cloud-centric devices (like Chromebooks) imperative. This transition provides immediate benefits: it eliminates the significant licensing costs associated with security solutions like Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) software and offers a dramatic reduction in TCO. Furthermore, it requires less IT labor for maintenance and troubleshooting, while leveraging the enhanced inherent security of cloud-based operating systems to improve operational stability.
5. Hybrid Network Management and Cooperative Services To effectively access specialized technical expertise without incurring the burden of high, full-time salaries, districts must continue refining their adoption of a hybrid network management model. This may involve maintaining a small, essential internal IT team while strategically using external support for highly specialized or intermittent roles, specifically sustaining and expanding their use of MSPs and specialized contracting for advanced needs (e.g., cybersecurity audits, complex network redesign).
Expanding beyond external contracting, districts must also consider formal inter-district cooperative agreements. It is important to consider these options that enable multiple school systems to share the cost of highly specialized personnel (database administrator, high-level network engineer), making top-tier technical talent financially accessible where it would otherwise be unaffordable for a single district.
Furthermore, technology leaders must continue playing a proactive role in initiating and engaging in conversations with local municipal governments to explore the opportunities and feasibility of establishing cross-jurisdictional shared services for cost reduction that benefit all local taxpayers.
6. Ensuring Sustained Savings Through ITSM Implementation To ensure that these strategic shifts continue to yield quantifiable and sustained savings, districts should implement and leverage an IT service management system (ITSM)—most referred to as the IT help desk platform. An ITSM platform is critical for maintaining accountability and conducting robust data analysis. It provides accurate inventory monitoring of all assets (including warranty status), streamlines and prioritizes support requests, and, most importantly, furnishes the data-driven trend analysis needed to prove the ongoing success of new cost-saving measures. For instance, consistent use of the ITSM can generate reports showing a quantifiable drop in maintenance tickets for bulbs replacement and projector repairs after the adoption of new Interactive flat panel displays (IFPDs) or a reduction in printer-related tickets following the implementation of centralized copiers and removal of widely distributed printers, thereby proving the value of the investment.
7. The Collaborative Advantage: Facilities and Technology To maximize efficiency and reduce capital expenses, districts must actively pursue and institutionalize enhanced collaboration between technology and facilities departments into a unified, strategic model. This partnership is critical for controlling costs and essential for navigating the shift from an analog to a digital environment, particularly in the area of school safety/security.
By prioritizing routine physical work in-house—such as training staff to cable network drops, installing digital internet protocol (IP) cameras (replacing outdated analog systems), and setting up networked access control readers, districts leverage internal labor and avoid the high markup of external contractors. Coordinating schedules and utilizing internal maintenance staff achieves a vast reduction in overall project cost while simultaneously building in-house technical expertise.
While the specific execution of these strategies must be adapted to each district’s size and unique infrastructural needs, the mandate for change is universal. We can no longer afford passive budget management; we must actively pursue every available avenue to reduce the TCO and increase operational efficiency. Sustaining educational quality under the 2% cap requires more than internal reform; it demands a unified front. The pathway to long-term fiscal resilience lies in maximizing interdistrict collaboration, utilizing shared services and forming cooperative agreements to make specialized expertise and economies of scale accessible to all New Jersey schools.
For over 30 years, Fil Santiago has been serving in K-12 education as an educator, technology integration specialist and director of technology and administrative services for the West Orange Public Schools. He is also a co-founder and the current president of the New Jersey Education and Technology Association (NJETA).
