At a time when budget dollars are tight for everyone, a Gloucester County Public Schools employee went shopping for some deals on office furnishings.

When he was done, school division assistant superintendent John Hutchinson had purchased and relocated approximately $600,000 worth of office and classroom furniture, most of it in like-new condition, for less than $25,000.

Much of that equipment is earmarked for the new Page Middle School, which is set to open next fall.

“It was all about the timing. We looked at the right time,” Hutchinson said of his shopping spree that saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When it came time for the school division administrative offices to move into the T.C. Walker Education Center last fall, there was little money available for new furnishings. Most of the old furniture was not up to the move, so Hutchinson said he put the word out that the school division needed some office furnishings.

That networking led Hutchinson to...