Miles and I met with Todd Cunningham this morning. We have reviewed the overall furniture budget again. We are getting to the bottom lines.
We have all the furniture as discussed at the last meeting. This includes the bigger wire mesh book baskets underneath the first through third grade tables. The tables are also sized at 36"X60". The total price is $375,000 (approx.). The rep has been working off the goal of a bottom line amount of $350,000. He has recommended the following additional reductions to get closer to the target. I feel obligated to at least share the items with you before we finalize. This will also clarify what the differences are in furniture purchases right now between Edgerton and Carson ($30,000 difference; we are also adding one additional first grade). Do we have to go with any of these recommendations? No. That is why we have a lead team to determine how we will spend the allocation.
- Decrease to one book shelf instead of two (save $11,000).
- Instead of having all tables and desks be adjustable, have only 1/3 be adjustable: savings of $6,000 (approx.). I am hesistant because the wire mesh basket underneath may not be ideal with a fixed height desk. Remember that the chairs are all fixed height.
- The two student desks are priced at $112.50 per student ($225 total). The single student desks are priced at $176. In the intermediate classrooms, we could increase the number of double desks and decrease the single desks. i.e. switching four individual desks for two double student desks.
We need to remember that the additional costs for all other furniture and furnishings and equipment purchases will be coming from the remaining $125,000. My very rough estimate at this point is that we will use approximately $75,000 on additional items that are slated to be in the building that have to be purchased with this money. This leaves about $50,000 to work with. We also need to remember that we have up to one year to spend these allocations. That being the case, my current plan is to hold off on further expenditures and see what was overlooked or needed once everything arrives. We will then have some money to make some or all of the additional necessary purchases.
There are two questions that I need people to answer in the 'comments' section below.
1. Do we make any changes to the current order or do we leave it as is? Another way to frame this question is: Is it worth it to save some money if we go with some of these changes?
2. Are any of the items above anything that you are willing to make changes to and still feel like the instruction/versatility will not be impacted (I don't want you to settle for something that will negatively impact the classroom; I can support a different configuration but not a not as good furniture choice)?
posted by Arturo @ 9:16 AM
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