By Kim Hilsenbeck.
Despite increased use of technology on Hays CISD campuses over the past four years, printing and copy making has not decreased. Last year, it cost $470,000 to run the shop, which includes labor, paper and supplies. Campuses also have a “quick copy” budget for items not printed at the shop.
The Hays CISD Board of Trustees requested an analysis of the district’s in-house print shop and campus-level printing to help make the decision about leasing four new high-speed copiers for the print shop, as well as the overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the shop.
Answers came at the Nov. 18 board meeting where Annette Folmar, financial executive director, presented data about the district’s copying and printing activities.
Despite the nearly half a million dollars spent on printing, Folmar said the print shop took in $483,000 from print orders from campuses and outside entities that use the shop, including PTA and booster club groups, PEC, H-E-B and local banks.
“It’s not meant to make a huge profit, but the print shop is [no longer] losing money,” Folmar said.
District officials said the print shop does not actively solicit outside business; it’s mostly word-of-mouth, according to Hays CISD spokeperson Tim Savoy.
The plan for the shop’s first two years was to lose money.
But as trustee Marty Kanetzky pointed out, that amount does not include fringe costs such as facilities, insurance, HR services, utilities, billing, vehicles and gasoline.
Kanetzky asked to see a total breakdown of all costs. “My concern is does the print shop serve its intended purpose in the most efficient and effective manner,” she said.
Folmar told the board that in the 2008-2009 school year, printing costs exceeded $700,000. Each campus or department had its own copiers. That’s when the idea of a print shop began.
In 2012, Hays CISD made 16.2 million copies; about 13 million of those were through the print shop. Using last year’s enrollment figure of about 16,000, that’s 2,476 copies per student.
In comparison, Folmar said the Round Rock school district, which had about 45,000 students last year, made 69.4 million copies in its print shop. Campus wide, the district made 101 million copies. That equates to about 2,200 copies per student.
At Leander ISD, with a student enrollment of 44,000 last year, its print shop made 44 million copies. The figure campus-wide was 62 million total copies, which is 1,800 per student – significantly less than Hays CISD or Round Rock ISD.
Folmar said in her conversations with Leander’s district officials, she learned there was a concerted effort to reduce copying in that district.
“They shifted 80 percent of copies to the print shop and limited the number of campus copies,” she told the board. “They charge three cents per copy on campus copiers and 1.5 cents per copy at print shop.”
She added that Leander has been very stringent about making copies. For example, no newsletters go home in backpacks; they are sent electronically to families.
However, while the average breakdown per student shows the figures, Folmar added context to the issue.
“Not all copies are only for students,” she said. “That number also includes report cards, attendance letters, teacher materials and newsletters.”
She said the campus print shop provides additional services.
“They add value by cutting out notices, notecards and coupons, and printing posters, brochures, parking permits and notepads,” she said.
The shop also offers layout and design assistance that is included in the per copy cost, according to Folmar.
Based on the board’s desire to learn more, Folmar engaged nearly 600 employees across the district in a survey about the print shop. The online survey took place in late October and yielded responses from 308 teachers and 287 staff and administrators.
Folmar said the results of Q10 were telling. The question, “Closure of print shop would cause a negative impact on me,” revealed that 70 percent of all district personnel strongly agreed.
But Kanetzky said she was not sure when the idea of closing the print shop was proposed and she wasn’t sure why that question was asked.
Moving forward, Kanetzsky said she wants to see that same type of survey conducted annually for the print shop and all other campus support departments to gauge whether or not those functions are meeting the needs of their customers.
The board will vote at next Monday’s business meeting on whether to approve the lease for the new copiers – three black and white, one color – in the print shop, at a cost of $9,835 a month.
