Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Have you overlooked a $520B industry?

5:36 PM | Posted by Wes Stalcup | | Edit Post

The Thorpdale Primary School was founded in 1889.Image via Wikipedia

I've mentioned in this blog and on twitter, the U.S. school districts face challenges similar to those of business. Of course there are differences, but the similarities are striking. Public schools in the U.S. are a $520B "industry". A district superintendent is equal to a CEO. Principals are Senior VP's. They all report to a board. They have customers, known as students and parents. There are shareholders, known as taxpayers. They have to deal with regulatory authorities, usually the state.

There is a great need, nationwide for public school districts to adopt well designed communications plans for their audience. Who is their audience? Again, it's the people who drive their results. It includes, but is not limited to: students, teachers, parents, those paying school taxes, community and state officials. Seem like a lot of different people. That's one level of complexity. What to communicate and how are others. Nearby you there is probably a district that could use some assistance in building a unified communications plan that leverages the best tools the internet has to offer.

Here's why...

Public schools district are funded (at least in Texas) with tax dollars. It's a fixed amount per student. So, the top line revenue is very predictable and you can't just create another product to grow. You can only grow the top line by getting more students.

In Texas, districts can sell bonds, which is debt. Many people assume if a district holds a bond election and it passes it, that it means a tax increase. It doesn't typically, unless the state has authorized the increase for all districts. If a tax increase is not authorized in parallel, the only way the bonds can be sold is for the tax base to increase, because the district is likely spending every authorized dollar. Tax base increase then only happens by local growth - new neighborhoods, businesses, etc. Bond money is often used to build facilities. The reason is simple: If that money were pulled from district operating funds it would impact salaries, supplies, etc. Often a bond election is only the authorization to sell bonds in the future when there is room under the cap.

In our area, constituents complain about the constant assessment testing or preparation for same. Turns out most schools would just as soon skip it and focus on teaching/learning in others ways with other metrics. Problem is that ratings are derived from test scores. Those ratings then influence people's decision whether to live here or there. If ratings drop so do move ins and thus revenue. So the schools have to do the testing.

I'll continue this topic with other complexities faced by public schools. By now, if you are a marketing person, a taxpayer or a parent you may be getting a sense of how there is more to it than you thought. If you missed the link on some school stats it's: http://tinyurl.com/school-dists there you can find U.S. stats for public schools from 2006-7. Check the numbers.

For almost every district, increased communications with their "results drivers" will no doubt lead to outputting a better "product" - educated, well balanced kids. More on this soon.

To learn more about applying technology to communications problems like this or your district, sign up for Grow! - The eCourse
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