As the third largest school district in Texas, the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) has more than 117,000 students across 91 campuses consisting of 56 elementary schools, 18 middle schools, 12 high schools and 5 special program facilities. The district has more than 16,000 employees and is the only district in the state to be ranked in the top three most effective and efficient districts in Texas by the Education Resource Group for each of the last six years. At CFISD, administrative expenditures account for only 1.8% of the operating budget.
For a district of this size and caliber, CFISD’s printing resources are a critical asset. An efficient print shop can deliver both significant value to the district as well as contribute to a better bottom line. That’s the mission that Derrek Thompson, Print Center Manager for the district’s Janie Scott Print & Production Department, has undertaken since he joined the organization 10 years ago.
“For a district this size,” he says, “we have quite a small department with only 12 employees. But we deliver a huge amount of printed material to the district with this talented staff.” The district has six toner-based printers/copiers and four small offset presses. “Our problem was that our finishing department couldn’t keep up with the output from our copiers and presses,” Thompson explains. “We would have pallets of paper sitting around waiting for finishing, and we often had to outsource work to meet deadlines – in fact, as much as $250,000 worth of outsourcing annually. We knew we needed to take action to continue to do our best to serve the needs of the district.”