A bipartisan bill introduced by Assemblywomen Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Amy H. Handlin would reduce costs for property taxpayers and tuition payers by allowing public and private schools to join together in joint purchasing agreements.
“Joint purchasing agreements help school districts save money and redirect financial resources,” Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, said. “This legislation will enhance this by allowing private schools to join with public schools in the same district.”
The legislation would amend the Public School Contracts Law to allow joint purchasing agreements between public and private schools.
“Students at public schools and private schools use the same pencils and paper and increasing the number of schools in a purchasing pool tilts the economies of scale toward saving money for property taxpayers and tuition payers,” said Handlin, R-Monmouth, a county with 188 public schools and 102 private schools. “In particular, many parochial schools are struggling to stay afloat and this bill can help them reduce costs in a way that will save money for public schools too.” TLS.
This is a bad bad bad idea. Cross purchasing will lead to money going into the wrong accounts. This board can’t keep track of money now what do you think when they have to deal with multiple accounts. Bad idea.
The problem is that the district always pays top dollar. I can find a textbook on Ebay or Dealoz for one-half or one-third the price the district pays. Several years ago, almost all the history teachers in LHS agreed that “The Rise of the American Nation” was the best textbook they ever used. I used that text in Belmar, but LHS stopped using it. When I taught at different Mesivta, I purchased 15 of them for $1 each. Much cheaper than the $100 to $150 normally paid for each.
I often searched for good deals before I made purchases for my needs in the math department at LHS. The normal procedure is to purchase from the most expensive supplier. So, I made the purchases on my own account and asked for reimbursement. Teachers and department coordinators should be allowed to purchase from whomever gives them the best deal. This is a change that I will implement one day.
How exactly will your idea save taxpayers’ money? It won’t.
Your fellow LHS math teacher…
Maybe someone can tell us which books used at any Yeshiva or Bais Faiga are also used at ANY public school in Lakewood. PLEASE!
to number 3 if you read the post then you would see that it was a history book that this person used in a high school to teach with and then used it to teach in a mesivta too.