Opportunities Exist To Reduce Operating Costs of the Department of Defense Overseas Dependents Schools

Gao ID: HRD-82-86 August 26, 1982

GAO reviewed the opportunities for savings in the teacher substitution and pupil transportation programs in the Department of Defense Dependents' Schools (DODDS) system.

Department of Defense (DOD) policy states that teachers who reside in the United States should be hired only if vacancies cannot be filled by transferring currently employed teachers or by hiring locally. However, a large number of substitute teachers are needed and local applicants constitute the only source to meet demand. As a result, some principals are reluctant to hire local applicants as full-time teachers. The high demand for substitutes is attributable primarily to the tightly structured rules covering accumulated leave time among teachers, which causes them to take their maximum earned leave time to avoid forfeiting it. Hiring teachers in the United States is substantially more costly than hiring teachers locally; therefore, restructuring the leave-time regulations would lead to a decline in the need for substitutes so that more local applicants could be available for hire as full-time teachers. DODDS has budgeted approximately $37 million for pupil transportation in fiscal year 1982. GAO found that military installation commanders, who are responsible for providing pupil transportation, have not made cost comparisons and other analyses to ensure that the most economical busing services are used. GAO believes that until the military services undertake these cost-effective analyses, cost savings in busing services will not be realized. GAO concluded that savings to DODDS could be achieved by reducing the demand for substitute teachers and identifying the most economical mode of pupil transportation.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: William J. Gainer Team: General Accounting Office: Human Resources Division Phone: (202) 275-5365


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