Education Policy, Business and Technology

Louisiana School System Considers Tech to Cut Costs

Government Technology: As the East Baton Rouge Parish school system struggles to balance its books amid dwindling enrollment and growing competition from charter schools, the parish School Board heard Tuesday from a consultant who has some ideas for making the school system operate better and save some money in the process.

Byron Headrick, a founder of LEAN Frog, a consulting firm based in Huntsville, Alabama, suggested, among other things, ditching paper for digital records, automating invoicing and timekeeping, embedding software personnel in the departments they serve, limiting car trips between offices by greater use of communications tools the district already pays for, creating student-led help desks for tech problems and reworking the district organization chart so that fewer top administrators oversee more terrain.

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