The LAUSD Dinosaur: Dismantling The Economics Of Scale
The only justification that I have ever heard for the continued existence of LAUSD is the economics of scale. Simply stated, this is the notion that larger organizations can buy goods and services for significantly less money than smaller organizations, because of the quantity and consequential discounts they are able to get because of their size.You can see this principle in practice in a companies like Costco or Home Depot, where these companies abilities to buy larger quantities for less gives them a significantly lower unit cost, which ultimately gives them a market advantage over smaller businesses whose unit costs are higher.
At LAUSD, the second largest school district in the country, where economics of scale should thrive, nothing could be further from their daily reality, since the majority of what they purchase is acquired from "agreed upon vendors," whose status as such insulates them from market competition that might ultimately have given them lower costs in educating students. In addition, not only does LAUSD not benefit from the economics of scale, they rather incorporate the worst ills of any too-large organization that suffers from the lack of coordinated management that comes from being so very large, cumbersome, and unaccountable. Cue the dinosaur business model.
"We're all upset about layoffs to both certified and classified personnel. However, I want to point out that about 5 years ago, it took a team of FIVE painters more than a week to paint my slightly larger than average-sized elementary classroom. Meanwhile, my class met in the auditorium -- a wonderful place to work with 6 year olds. In the many times I entered my room to retrieve materials, I never once saw any of them actually painting, but I did catch a lot of coffee breaks."
While LAUSD drones often repeat vacuous platitudes like small learning communities, most are reluctant -- or unable -- to sequence enough facts together to understand that the same accountability that hypothetically makes a smaller school better for learning might also far outweigh any potential savings derived from the economics of scale, by eliminating the waste and corruption that is endemic to a dinosaur like public school districts, because responsibility and accountability are necessarily lost... not to mention the actual implementation of anything even remotely resembling the real principles of economics of scale.
When accountability is lost, the interests of the unaccountable The LAUSD Dinosaur: The Truth Behind The Economics Of Scale (And Waste). - Perdaily.com:
At LAUSD, the second largest school district in the country, where economics of scale should thrive, nothing could be further from their daily reality, since the majority of what they purchase is acquired from "agreed upon vendors," whose status as such insulates them from market competition that might ultimately have given them lower costs in educating students. In addition, not only does LAUSD not benefit from the economics of scale, they rather incorporate the worst ills of any too-large organization that suffers from the lack of coordinated management that comes from being so very large, cumbersome, and unaccountable. Cue the dinosaur business model.
The following teacher's comment illustrates how work is typically done at LAUSD:
"We're all upset about layoffs to both certified and classified personnel. However, I want to point out that about 5 years ago, it took a team of FIVE painters more than a week to paint my slightly larger than average-sized elementary classroom. Meanwhile, my class met in the auditorium -- a wonderful place to work with 6 year olds. In the many times I entered my room to retrieve materials, I never once saw any of them actually painting, but I did catch a lot of coffee breaks."
While LAUSD drones often repeat vacuous platitudes like small learning communities, most are reluctant -- or unable -- to sequence enough facts together to understand that the same accountability that hypothetically makes a smaller school better for learning might also far outweigh any potential savings derived from the economics of scale, by eliminating the waste and corruption that is endemic to a dinosaur like public school districts, because responsibility and accountability are necessarily lost... not to mention the actual implementation of anything even remotely resembling the real principles of economics of scale.
When accountability is lost, the interests of the unaccountable The LAUSD Dinosaur: The Truth Behind The Economics Of Scale (And Waste). - Perdaily.com: