A majority of Michigan’s school districts are satisfied with its contractors. Districts that are unsatisfied with their contracts often end the contract and bring services in-house or re-bid the service and hire a different company. Unsatisfied with the custodial services provided by their previous contractor, Southfield Public Schools re-bid its contract and are now satisfied with its custodial service provider.
Many of the districts new to contracting reported they were unsure or refused to answer whether they were satisfied with the service or not. These districts didn’t feel confident enough to give a solid answer given the short duration the service had been contracted out.
Over the years of performing this survey districts dissatisfied with their contracted service have been rare. Districts satisfied with their private contractors have been between 88 percent and 90 percent over the last four surveys.
Graphic 9: Satisfaction From Outsourcing
While a district’s satisfaction is often due to financial considerations, service quality as measured by satisfaction measures can be used as an important metric when considering best practices in school management.