Coppell ISD is closing schools. We're trying to innovate our way out of this budget crisis. For New Tech, for our students, for their future.
Read Our Story| # | Strategy | Example Districts/Results | Potential CISD Savings (Est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Optimize Contracted & Professional Services | Plano ISD (5–10% savings), Richardson ISD | $2,000,000+ |
| 2 | Streamline Workforce & Administrative Overhead | CFBISD (admin consolidation), Statewide | $2,000,000+ |
| 3 | Centralize Procurement & Bulk Purchasing | Frisco ISD (8–12% savings), Statewide | $2,000,000+ |
| 4 | Enhance Facilities Efficiency & Preventative Maint. | Lewisville ISD ($1.9M/year), CFBISD | $2,000,000+ |
| 5 | Modernize Technology & Data-Driven Management | Garland ISD ($600K/year), Plano ISD | $2,000,000+ |
| 6 | Optimize Student Transportation | Allen ISD ($400K/year), Garland ISD | $2,000,000+ |
Note: Cost savings are estimates and will depend on participation rates, fee structure, and administrative implementation.
CISD’s “Contracted Instructional Services” is a major budget line. Auditing, rebidding, and renegotiating these contracts, as well as exploring interlocal agreements or in-house options, can yield significant savings.
Reviewing and consolidating administrative roles, leveraging automation, and optimizing organizational structure can reduce overhead while maintaining service quality.
Centralizing procurement and negotiating volume discounts lowers costs for supplies, equipment, and services.
Energy audits, efficiency upgrades (such as LED and HVAC), motion sensor lights and air conditioning, preventative maintenance, and smart facility management systems can yield significant, recurring savings.
Consolidating IT systems, migrating to cloud, outsourcing managed services, and automating routine tasks can reduce costs and improve reliability.
Route optimization, advanced scheduling software, renegotiated fuel/maintenance contracts, and maximizing bus occupancy all lower transportation costs.
If the intercampus transfers are for elective courses and not required academic courses, the legal requirements for vehicles in Texas appear to be more flexible and they also appear to be flexible when transporting under 10 students.
For regular routes to and from school (including required courses):
School buses or mass transit authority buses must be used if transporting 10 or more students.
Federally compliant passenger vans may only be used if transporting fewer than 10 students.
For school activities other than regular routes (such as elective courses, field trips, extracurriculars):
Passenger vans (up to 15 passengers, including the driver) may be used if transporting fewer than 15 students.
Only school buses or motor buses may be used if transporting 15 or more students in a single vehicle.
Federal law prohibits schools from purchasing new 15-passenger vans for student transportation unless the vehicle meets all federal school bus safety standards, which requires acquisition from a specialty company. In the U.S., most federally compliant school van solutions are built on Ford Transit, Chevrolet Express, or similar platforms, as these are more commonly upfitted to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Sprinter-based school buses, also known as MFSABs, are rare but may be available through specialty bus manufacturers or upfitters that certify compliance.
Purchasing or leasing a new Sprinter van (or any van with more than 10 seats) that does not meet FMVSS school bus standards for student transportation is prohibited and exposes the district to legal and insurance liability so they would need to be purchased through proper vendors that specialize in right-sizing school district transportation.
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