A new program has been launched to help schools solve the negative impact of budget cuts.

B4Schools, has formally launched their pilot program and will offer the first 2,000 schools "that sign up the ability to buy their most used paper and related products at an average cost of 35 percent below what they would pay anywhere else, providing more money for those schools to put to use for other programs or necessities," a press release said.

The company, the release said, is led by Lawrence Koh. B4Schools uses technology to "drive down costs and solve inefficiencies for its broad base of clients. A West Coast automated fulfillment center for B4Schools is scheduled to launch in 2015 and will have the capacity to service all schools in the Western U.S."

"As a parent of school age children, I consistently saw the negative impact of the decline in school funding – canceled programs, fewer teachers, and inadequate resources," said Koh. "So we've applied what we've learned from decades of global supply chain management to drive down the cost of what schools buy most frequently."

Koh said B4Schools "provides the lower costs by taking out all of the middlemen and going direct to the product manufacturers, all of whom manufacture their products in the U.S."

According to the press release, Koh said that "cost analysis shows that a school with a 1000 student population can save nearly $3,300 a year by ordering just nine of their most used products through B4Schools--this includes a variety of paper towels, facial tissue, toilet paper, and related items."

"B4Schools represents a unique way for schools to start taking charge of how they save money...and eventually how they spend it – regardless of where they are located, how big they are or whether they're public, private or charter," said Don Shalvey, founder of Aspire Public Schools.

The key to how B4Schools can help schools, the release said, is its "easy-to-use eCommerce website that removes the need to buy bulk quantities, thus freeing up their revenue and, over time, eliminating the need for large storage areas and warehouses."

"We found out in our research that many schools have huge amounts of inefficiency in their own supply chains – everything from printed catalogs to large warehouse facilities to antiquated online ordering systems," Koh said. "We set out to improve the whole process and can essentially run an entire warehouse serving up to 2000 schools with just two people. We're confident that this kind of end-to-end approach will eventually help schools all over the country save money and have more control over how they spend it."

Signing up is free, the release said, and open to all schools of any size or type.

Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor