SARC BITE 10 | JANUARY 17 , 2003

The Five-step Program for Cutting SARC Costs

The inescapable theme inside many districts now is cost-cutting. Your superintendent may ask you to find ways to trim your accountability program. Our advice: follow the Boy Scout dictum and "be prepared." Here are several ways you might plan for that day of reckoning.

1. UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR TRUE SARC COSTS HAVE REALLY BEEN

This is no easy feat. Your costs are largely hidden. If you run through these questions below, you may find your costs to be larger than you thought. Once your actual costs are summarized, you can see wasted investment more easily. Improving the quality of your accountability reports could also be possible at lower cost.

• How long did it take you to study and understand the Ed Code sections that pertain to SARCs?
• How long did you puzzle over the CDEs data definitions of July 2002? How long did you spend guiding and supporting principals, whose writing is essential to a compliant SARC?
• How long did your principals spend writing their sections?
• Who printed the legally required notification to parents, informing them where they could find their school's SARC online?
• Who prepared the board for their annual review, and attended the board meeting to answer their questions?
• What was the cost of distributing SARCs? Were they printed in full, in summary form, or not printed at all?
• If they were mailed, what was the mailing cost?

2. SHOP FOR LESS EXPENSIVE WAYS TO CREATE YOUR SARCS

Once you've determined your costs doing the work in-house, consider outside specialists. Specialists are often less expensive, yet more effective. If you haven't asked for bids from outside providers, now is the time to do so. Get more than one bid. Define your specs in writing to make accurate comparisons possible. Look at the post-reimbursement cost, too. (Due diligence note: School Wise Press is a provider of accountability reporting services.)

3. MAXIMIZE YOUR COST REIMBURSEMENT CLAIMS

Work closely with your business office to make sure you're being reimbursed fully. Your district should be able to recapture a lot of money if your documentation of time spent is clear and complete.

• Is your district filing reimbursement claims for all this work?
• Did your business office fully document your district's costs from prior years? What is the pattern of costs and reimbursement levels over five years? Were those costs reimbursed fully?
• SARCs should be reimbursed to the tune of 60 percent to 75 percent. Are your reimbursement levels equivalent to these?

4. REVIEW YOUR RETURN ON THIS INVESTMENT

If you treat SARCs like a rote exercise in compliance, you'll get little return on your investment. One way to save is to make the most of what you've already spent. Relate your costs to your benefits, and you'll make wiser decisions.

• Did you use your SARCs to encourage new enrollments in your district? Districts that are actively marketing use SARCs to tell their story.
• Were your SARCs printed and distributed to parents at Open House events?
• Were your SARCs mailed to parents along with their children's grades at the end of the school year (saving money and reaching everyone)?
• Were your SARCs used as part of your district's bond campaign to document the condition of facilities in need of repair, crowding, and the impact of portables on learning?
• Were your SARCs emailed to parents (saving mailing costs)?
• Did you distribute SARCs to your county realtor association and Chamber of Commerce?
• Did your SARCs help your schools pass their Coordinated Compliance Reviews as intended?
• Did your high schools use their SARCs to help prepare for WASC accreditation visits?
• Have your principals used their SARCs as supporting documents for their grant applications?

5. CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCE OF CUTS BEFORE YOU MAKE THEM

The NCLB law, now one year old, tightened up the federal requirements for accountability reporting. If your SARCs don't meet the new federal requirements, you could be putting your Title I money at risk. And this administration is not kidding when they threaten enforcement. (The CDE, now under the leadership of the new state superintendent, Jack O'Connell, is likely to review compliance as SB1632 required.) Strong SARCs are inexpensive insurance against compliance violations.

• If your district is going to the voters to approve a bond or a parcel tax, is voting public going to be more likely to vote for those measures if they've seen clear, candid, and professional accountability reports?
• If cuts in your SARC program expose your district to losing Title I funds, is it worth it?
• If cuts in your SARC program lead your voting public to lose a little confidence in district management, are you less likely to win their support at the next election?

The answer to challenges in hard times is often to work smarter. Costs can often be cut by identifying wasted effort, by intelligent shopping, by aggressive recapture of reimbursable funds. You can also make your SARCs work harder, producing a better return on your investment. If four families enroll their eight kids in your schools because they were persuaded by your SARCs that your schools fit their needs best, you've brought $45,000 in ADA funds into the district coffers. And one more professional question to consider — are you getting credit for contributing to little successes like that?

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