AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation today released The Mumford Model: Better School Districts Through Efficiency. Authored by Jess Fields, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Local Governance, this report discusses the Mumford Independent School District’s success in becoming more efficient, having less debt, and ultimately producing better educated children.
“The ‘Mumford Model’ as it might be called offers invaluable lessons for other school districts in regards to lowering administrative costs and spending resulting in less debt and more money in reserve,” said Fields. “Though administration is at the core of how a school district operates, Mumford has managed to decrease its administration to represent only 6.9 percent of its budget.
“The variety of ways Mumford saves money means they spend less per student than the statewide average. The Texas statewide average spent per pupil in 2011-12 was $10,556. In the same academic year, Mumford spent $6,746 per student or about 40 percent less than the statewide average.
“On top of the increased efficiency and cost savings, 100 percent of Mumford students graduated high school in the Class of 2012, versus 87.7 percent statewide. The district’s impressive results are particularly surprising given that 75.9 percent of its students are listed as economically disadvantaged, much higher than the statewide average of 60.4 percent.”
The paper and other work related to Mumford ISD can be found here: http://bit.ly/1lRYcUW
Jess Fields is a Senior Policy Analyst with Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Local Governance.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.
Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com
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