I know I’ve been writing on a lot of articles lately but I am
going to write about another one. In an article by Joetta Sack-Min called “The
Outsourcing Question” she went over the pros and cons of outsourcing food
services on the public school level. Even though there is a difference at the
university level, she makes some very good points.
Reports
and studies are very contradictory when it comes to whether or not outsourcing
will save money or not. Every school is different and thus has different needs.
Those with experience in the financial side of the educational system encourage
schools to find companies to meet the schools needs and to have a deep
knowledge of the contract before signing it.
There
are some nightmare situations that some schools have found themselves in. A
school in Neenah, Wisconsin found out that their contract with Aramark only
covered $100,000 worth of debt obtained by the school’s food program. Sadly
this was after they had already accumulated $354,000 worth of debt. Much of
this was due to the high amount of benefits that the staff retained.
There
is a lot of opposition that goes along with outsourcing as well. The Service
Employees International Union is especially opposed to these food service
companies. They claim that their hours are cut and the food that the kids are
getting is of less portions and less quality than before. The American
Federation of Teachers are also getting in on the protest, telling schools that
privatizing food services is not the way to go. They claim that these companies
often don’t comply with regulations and there’s not much the school can do
because of their contract.
But as
in most cases there is a flip side to this coin. There are many school programs
that would say that they are very happy with their new business relations with
these food service companies. They realize in the current market that the
school alone would not be able to supply the quality or options of food without
accumulating massive amounts of debt.
Sack-Min,
Joetta. "The Qutsourcing Question." American School Board
Journal
195.6 (2008): 22-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept.
2014.
Great representation of an argument and mentioning both sides of the argument which is to outsource or not. In my opinion it is in UKs best interest to outsource their food program to have a better relation with their students.
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