E&I Members: How likely are you to recommend E&I Cooperative Services to a peer?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average public school building in the United States is now about 50 years old. Older facilities need more maintenance, and that means more expense. At the same time, the past few years have increased attention on cleaning and sanitation in schools. Students, staff, and parents are putting a higher premium on clean schools. That often means more work, but without an increased budget.
Keeping janitorial staff is also harder than ever. One survey showed that, on average, public schools only had 74% of custodial staff positions filled. Other schools are cutting custodial positions. For example, Chicago Public Schools reduced its custodian workforce by 500 last year due to budget cuts.
It’s a nearly universal problem. Aging staff, difficulty in filling jobs, and increasing costs. When you add in budget problems, it’s a significant challenge. As a result, more K-12 districts are increasingly turning to contract cleaners for schools. Outsourcing your custodial or facilities services with cooperative purchasing programs near you can reduce your worry about staffing, eliminate payroll and benefits costs, and keep your schools clean.
Many districts now outsource some or all of their custodial and facilities providers to supplement internal operations or manage services district-wide. You can contract for a wide range of services, including:
Some cleaning companies also offer seasonal deep cleaning, such as at the end of the school year and before back-to-school at the end of summer. You may also want to schedule separate cleanings after events.
E&I Cooperative Services offers cooperative purchasing programs near you that cover janitorial and sanitation services, including ABM Education Services and ServiceMaster Clean. These contracts, like all other cooperative agreements through E&I, are competitively solicited to meet public compliance. E&I focuses exclusively on the education sector and aggregates demand across more than 6,500 academic institution who are members, achieving volume discounts that individual districts are not likely to get on their own.
Some contracts offer E&I exclusives, such as volume rebate tiers based on annual spend or alternate incentives for grant-restricted members.
Keeping your schools clean can also impact student success, teacher retention, and funding. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, schools that pay attention to cleaning, maintenance, and indoor air quality have fewer absences.
“Health, attendance, and academic performance can improve with increased maintenance.” – EPA
A clean facility can also help with teacher retention. The National Education Association (NEA) says the physical workplace environment makes a difference in teacher satisfaction rates and turnover.
Facilities procurement also includes a wide range of operational support services beyond custodial work alone.
Many districts require support for:
Because many school buildings are decades old, preventative maintenance has become increasingly important. E&I has cooperative agreements for K-12 with several top-tier suppliers, including:
Facilities procurement often involves lengthy bid processes, contract reviews, supplier evaluations, and compliance documentation. Cooperative purchasing helps districts reduce administrative workload by providing access to competitively solicited contracts that already meet public-sector procurement requirements.
With E&I Cooperative Services, you can:
Many schools adopting cooperative agreements see cost reductions of between 10 and 15%. In most cases, you can continue to use suppliers you already do business with, but leverage volume discounts with cooperative contracts that combine demand across other educational institutions.
If you are searching for cooperative purchasing programs near me for facilities or contract cleaners for schools, E&I is here to help. As the only nonprofit, member-owned sourcing cooperative that exclusively serves education, we have a team of procurement experts and category specialists who understand the unique needs of academic institutions. We can help you save time and money while easing the administrative and compliance burden.
E&I Cooperative Services offers more than 260 cooperative agreements. You can view contracts or contact one of our procurement experts for all of your K-12 procurement needs.