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L’ANSE — The L’Anse Area Schools has contracted for janitorial services. The district solicited bids to clean and maintain its middle and high schools. It had been spending more than $100,000 for those services, but UP Janitorial was awarded a contract that would cut that cost in half, according to the L’Anse Sentinel.
The district had been facing a $120,000 deficit. Like many school districts across the state, its contractual obligations to its workforce squeezed its budget. Contracting was seen as a way to keep cost cutting away from students. “My focus is to provide an education to the students, and we want to provide it as efficiently as we can,” stated Superintendent Ray Pasquali. “Thirty-four percent of Michigan school districts are contracting out to some degree,” Pasquali told the L’Anse Sentinel.
The district had wanted to contract for the service in early August, but gave its current employee union more time to present a bid. The contract has since been approved.
Editor’s Note: This contract was not counted in the 2006 summer privatization survey because the deal was made after its conclusion.
