Traditional Procurement Processes Stand in the Way of Progress
K–12 schools and districts can streamline procurement and gain agility without having the rewrite purchasing requirements.
K–12 classroom technology advances have brought many schools to the forefront of digital transformation, engaging students and teachers and allowing differentiated instruction, yet many educational organizations lag behind when it comes to advancement in another essential area: procurement.
Schools and districts by and large adhere to a complex patchwork of procurement rules that teachers and other in-school decision-makers find confusing and cumbersome. Add in state and local rules that govern purchases alongside new goals and initiatives like outcomes-based contracts, and the challenges around purchasing decisions only continue to grow.
Rules and regulations aren't the only obstacle to change. Outdated student and financial management systems that require manual interventions often prevent schools from adjusting to shifts in supplies or purchasing needs, and instead introduce costly delays to simply getting the day-to-day items needed in classrooms. Lack of knowledge around the purchase or procurement process is another barrier. An EdWeek survey of 270 educators conducted in the summer of 2024 found that while 68% of district leaders profess to know "a lot" about the purchasing processes in their districts, only 24% of school leaders shared that same knowledge; 52% of school leaders said they only know "some" about the purchasing process or "a little" (20%).
While procurement and purchasing rules remain an inescapable reality for educational organizations that must maintain fiscal accountability or meet sustainability targets (among other local procurement objectives), navigating those rules effectively requires new approaches. Schools and districts can reduce manual tasks and delays as well as optimize purchasing workflows without having to completely rework the system or introduce wholesale changes. Here are three areas where educational organizations can make important in-roads to modernize procurement while still adhering to immovable standards or guidelines.
Improve Tracking, Reporting With Data
While many smaller schools and districts rely on spreadsheets as part of their budget tracking and procurement management strategy, the need to ensure transparency around spending data and broader access to related insights only continues to grow. Data has gained greater prominence in schools and districts that must track progress against sustainability targets, for example, or benchmarks against spending objectives within specific categories. Robust analytics tools can help schools and districts move data out of spreadsheets to gain visibility into purchase histories, and model or predict future spending across categories like IT, classroom essentials, or janitorial.
At Olive Grove Charter School in Santa Barbara, CA, teachers e-mailed or handed paper supply requests to the fiscal services director to manage before moving to a digitized purchasing system that put more control in the hands of school-level learning centers, and consolidated more than 90% of school supply purchases. The charter school's shift to Amazon Business and a Business Prime membership provided the fiscal services team with clear visibility into spending across centers and departments without having to implement separate business account software. Each learning center director now submits and manages orders directly online, with orders paid by a consolidated invoice through one of two credit lines. The charter school receives business-only price savings and ships orders directly to learning centers, and teachers enjoy more direct — and immediate — control over the supplies they need to run their classrooms.
"We needed something easier, and we needed to save time," said Mari Michel, Olive Grove Charter School's fiscal services director. "Making it easy to add new people and new learning centers in the future was important, too."
Smooth Purchase Hiccups Through Seamless SIS Integration
As modern student information systems (SIS) have gained the top spot where teachers and other administrators manage day-to-day school operations and administrative tasks, it only makes sense to add in procurement and purchasing capabilities. Such seamless integration cuts down workflows while improving visibility and communication around procurement questions or needs. Purchase solutions that offer interoperability with common K–12 solutions like Skyward have done much to alleviate teacher and other front-line purchaser frustrations.
At College Place School District near Washington's Walla Walla Valley, teachers experienced purchase delays and spent unnecessary time processing orders, which detracted from other responsibilities.
"Teachers would fill out a requisition form and submit it to the District Office," the district's Director of Business and Finance said. "We would enter it into the system. They would approve it. It would then go to their supervisor for approval, and then to me for approval … it probably took about two weeks for anything to happen."
As they looked for cheaper, more convenient ways to spend their budgets — including buying on Amazon.com — it became clear that an SIS integration was the answer, and the district turned to Amazon Business for help. The district was able to gain access to business-only pricing, while streamlining purchasing approval workflows and offering teachers and staff the familiar Amazon shopping experience, all through Skyward. Teachers can quickly shop around to find the best prices to optimize their available budgets, and see orders delivered in days instead of weeks.
Establish One-Stop Hubs to Speed Time to Qualified Purchase
Getting educational equipment and supplies to schools, students, and employees across an entire district can be challenging — particularly when decentralized funding structures require many different stakeholders to manage spending, including parents, community members, business members, and students. Not to mention the strict budgetary and state guidelines that must be met by every purchase.
With Amazon Business, educational organizations can establish purchase order requirements for individual schools that allow Accounts Payable to more easily pay bills and set up one-stop purchasing resources. That opens up access to wide varieties of supplies while allowing education leaders and administrators to set price controls to ensure purchasers can only select materials that fall within their school's allotted budget and meet mandates to purchase the lowest-cost items.