Chances are if someone suggested that with just a few simple changes in your life, you could earn an extra $223 million per year they would quickly get your attention.

Likely, such a huge number would cause most of us to think the person was running some kind of scam.

But if you were already spending more than $5.5 billion (yes with a B), you might not be so quick to suspect a scam.

Last week, Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering released a report showing how Mississippi’s K-12 public school districts could potentially save more than $223 million, with just a few simple changes in how they operate.

The auditor’s plan suggests by eliminating inefficient personal services contracts and increasing shared services, the state could effectively put that $223 million back into classrooms without raising taxes a dime.

The report listed five recommendations — all of which seem like no-brainers to us:

-Districts should competitively bid all contracts, avoiding sole-source vendors.

-The legislature should include local school districts into the state’s already existent transparency in government website.

-Centralize purchases. The state apparently does this for other state services, but allows local districts to purchase as they see fit. This includes a number of items, as the report suggests, “from textbooks to toilet paper.”

-Establish a purchasing officer for the state’s school districts.

-Require a fiscal note be attached to all local contracts to illustrate whether a cost-savings is occurring or not.

All of the recommendations seem like something the Mississippi Department of Education and the legislature could enact within the next year and make a huge impact on education.