The Los Angeles Unified School District—the second largest school district in the nation—has turned to the public to help solve its budget woes. According to GOOD Education, the district is faced with a $390 million budget deficit, an amount that requires some creativity and outside thinking in order to tackle budget cuts and money saving initiatives. Realizing that community input would be beneficial to finding ways to increase efficiency in school management and administration, the district decided to crowdsource for new ideas. This past spring, district officials launched the My Bright Idea Challenge and in one month collected 1,300 submissions from community members consisting of students, parents, teachers, and administrative staff. Public voting ruled three ideas as the winners to the challenge, all of which will begin implementation after further research and assessment. The winning ideas include:

1. “Art to save art”: A student proposed a district-wide visual and performing arts show open to the public in order to encourage donations and support.

2. Online enrollment: A parent suggested that printing costs, paper wastes, and staff time could be reduced by transitioning to an online system for new student enrollment.

3. LAUSD 5K Run/Walk: A project management administrator in the district recommended that an annual run/walk-a-thon serve as a fundraising effort and also demonstrate LAUD’s commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

Crowdsourcing as a means to improving the efficiency of school districts seems like an innovative and smart approach. Too often decisions are made at the top with little input from the people below who are affected most by the decision. Do you think crowdsourcing could help your city’s school district?