Improve Teacher-Student Satisfaction by Removing Procurement Obstacles
Intuitive tools help teachers gain flexibility and control over purchases, and more time back for doing what they love.
Teachers and K–12 districts manage increasingly complicated workloads while striving to keep students satisfied and engaged, as well as meet learning objectives. That leaves little time at the end of the day to navigate the cumbersome or outdated procurement processes often required to request — and wait for — the essential supplies their students and classrooms need.
The need to ensure teacher and student satisfaction comes into tighter focus as districts navigate competitive recruiting environments and look to improve the overall school climate. EdWeek recently identified the need to recruit (53%) and retain (51%) high-quality teachers as the top two priorities and pain points noted by district leaders as part of the EdWeek Market Brief's School District Purchasing Priorities survey. Improving school culture and climate (48%) and meeting all students' needs (41%) followed closely behind. While it may not be the first solution on district leaders' minds, eliminating purchase and procurement pain points can alleviate many of the unnecessary — and unsatisfactory — burdens of day-to-day classroom management.
Schools and districts that continue to rely on a handful of well-informed individuals or procurement professionals to manage cumbersome, legacy solutions to fill out purchase orders (POs) or complete classroom supply requests perpetuate delays and administrator burdens. Time-strapped IT and admin teams find it just as difficult to onboard new procurement solutions or modify existing tools to solve access problems and delays.
Legacy systems frequently create additional challenges from a data and visibility perspective, through the lack of deeper insights around purchase histories, for example, or identifying competitive pricing opportunities, seasonal supply demands, and more. Removing procurement obstacles by providing teachers and admins with more direct access to intuitive tools like Amazon Business offers a more sustainable path for purchase management. Here are a few product features that allow teachers greater flexibility and choice around purchases, while also saving administrators precious time and the budget's bottom line.
User-Friendly, Where It's Needed Most
Not so long ago at Michigan's Bay City Public Schools, teachers were required to search on Amazon for the classroom items they needed, print out their selections, and submit the paperwork to the central district office for approval. The procurement team then manually recreated each shopping list in the ordering system, spending upwards of 30 minutes rebuilding a single shopping cart.
The district recently transformed its paper-based purchase process using Amazon Business, which allows teachers and other school personnel to select items on the Amazon Business website, lock in pricing, and submit orders directly through the district's purchasing system, which triggers an approval process. The integrated configuration helps ensure supplies and purchases fall within the district's specific policies and procurement requirements, maintaining essential oversight while allowing each school to maintain greater control over its supply selections and purchases.
"Amazon Business Pay by Invoice, the ACH, the credit memos — it has saved me so much time, and that is very precious right now," said Kristine Rodabaugh, an executive specialist in the district's finance and accounting office. "Having more time to spend on new ideas is going to help with the education of our students. Even having five minutes is going to make me a better employee."
Helping Schools Make Purchases with Ease
With Amazon Business, districts decentralize the procurement process and consolidate spending into one channel, where administrators set district- or building-specific spending limits along with category restrictions. Ongoing monitoring helps ensure compliance with purchase and budget policies and removes the need for finance or purchasing personnel to manually or directly manage every purchase or request.
Supplier consolidation reduces the need for purchasers to obtain multiple quotes or navigate more lengthy RFP processes. At the same time, having concrete data and insights into real-time spending and supply usage improves annual budgeting processes. School leaders can quickly and easily pinpoint anomalies or adjust funding requests for specific supplies or resources that are in greater demand. Furthermore, Punchout integration with more than 300 leading software applications, including Skyward and Jaggaer, offers education organizations flexibility and choice. Schools and districts can access Amazon Business through their existing systems while maintaining their current procurement processes.
More Time Back in Everyone's Day
At Bay City Public Schools, the shift from paper checks to digital payments through Pay by Invoice drove further support efficiencies, Rodabaugh said. Instead of dedicating entire days to preparing checks and maintaining spreadsheets, the district can quickly and safely make digital payments and ACH withdrawals — rapid, traceable transactions that maintain robust financial and accounting controls. The setup also allows Bay City Public Schools to easily manage multiple purchase funding sources.
"We pay out of both a general fund and an activity fund, so we do truly appreciate the fact that we can switch and choose which bank accounts to use," Rodabaugh said.
Such flexibility reduces budget management complications while also ensuring compliance with state grants or federal program requirements. At audit time, additional efficiencies are seen through easy access to comprehensive digital records of transactions, with every purchase linked to its corresponding PO, easing reconciliations and creating a clear audit trail. Auditors can be given direct access to the district's accounting system to retrieve necessary records, further eliminating the need for paper files or binders.
"Everything's there, tied to a purchase order, with line-item details," Rodabaugh explained. "It saves both our auditors and our team so much time."
Allowing Teachers to Focus on What Matters Most
Back in the classroom, teachers enjoy access to a wide selection of classroom supplies — and potential cost savings — and can quickly get those tools and resources into students' hands, creating an effective and engaging learning environment. Beyond access, teachers have more time in their day to spend with students and focus on their core role, rather than perusing supplies and completing paperwork.