Of the 542 conventional school districts in Michigan, 384 (70.8 percent) contracted out for food, custodial or transportation services in 2015. This represents a 6 percent increase from 2014 and is at least the 10th consecutive year that the percentage of districts contracting out for at least one of these services grew. Competitive contracting for noninstructional services has increased by 123 percent in the Great Lake State since 2003. Seventy-four districts contracted out for all of the three major noninstructional services, the highest percentage (13.7 percent) among the states in this five-state survey.
Graphic 1: School Support Service Outsourcing by Michigan School Districts, 2003-2015