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SchoolDude Shares Results of Inaugural Education Facilities Budget, Staffing and Operations Study

  • 04/14/16

CARY, NC – SchoolDude, a leading provider of education operations management solutions, has announced the results of its inaugural Facilities Budget, Staffing and Operations Study of more than 400 K–12 and higher education facilities, maintenance and operations professionals.

For more than 60 percent of respondents, facility management budget and staffing levels have either increased or stayed the same over the last five years. Technology is a key driver in this change. From iPads to smart boards, 91 percent of higher education respondents and 78 percent of K–12 respondents said technology is likely to impact classroom redesigns over the next year, affecting both the facilities and technology departments.

“We embarked on this study to help empower our clients and their facilities decisions with advanced operational and industry insights,” says Lee Prevost, chief strategy officer, Dude Solutions. “With the average age of school buildings crossing the 40-year mark, facility maintenance and capital planning decisions become more critical. These educational operations benchmarks are helpful for informing facilities-based decisions and justifying resources, budget and staff.”

The study revealed that, on average, maintenance and operations budgets make up 10 percent of schools’ overall budgets and 38 percent of budgets have increased over the last five years for both higher education and K–12. Another finding showed the average age of education facilities employees is 45 years old with a median tenure of 10 years for higher education and 12.5 years for K–12.

Other topics addressed in the survey include staff size and make up (maintenance, grounds, custodial), in-house versus outsourced services, facilities budget breakdowns, facilities size, among others.

The full report is available at this link.

Study Methodology
The SchoolDude Facilities Budget, Staffing and Operations Study was conducted in Q1 2016 via an online survey and includes a representative sample of educational institutions with 400 responses. Institutions surveyed include public K–12 districts, charter schools, private and independent schools, community colleges, 4-year public universities, and 4-year private universities. Institutions ranged in student size and type, representing the broader market. Departments represented include maintenance and facilities, building and grounds, business operations, physical plant, finance, events/facility use and the superintendent’s office.

ABOUT SCHOOLDUDE
For the past 15 years, SchoolDude has served educational professionals, supporting the vitally important role they play in providing a safe, clean, healthy, and quality learning environment for students, staff and faculty. We deliver cloud applications to help both small and large institutions better manage their facilities, IT and business operations. More than one million education professionals from 7,000+ educational institutions are using SchoolDude products to streamline maintenance work order and IT help desk management, schedule preventive maintenance, plan for capital replacements, increase inventory accountability and maximize after-hours facility use and utility consumption. For more information, visit www.schooldude.com.

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