The Savannah-Chatham County school board could start outsourcing support services in an effort to cut costs.

School officials are considering hiring a private company to cover everything from custodians to nurses.

School district spokesman Kurt Heteger says, the cost-cutting comes as the district faces a budget shortfall.

"We could potentially be looking at a $15 million gap in the budget for the fiscal year 2013," says Heteger. "Now is the time and we certainly have been working on items trying to target areas where we know we can save money."

School officials say, one option is replacing registered nurses with lower-paid licensed practical nurses.

Heteger says, each area is being looked at on an individual basis.

"There's much time going into right now looking at these particular areas," says Heteger. "And some areas of outsourcing it just may not make sense to really go down that road."

But private companies don't always do the best job and there could be limits to what the schools would privatize.

An outsourced payroll system, for instance, could result in inaccurate and late payments.

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