School Wise Press SARC Services

SARC BITE 17 | NOVEMBER 14, 2003

What is the Real Cost of Not Printing Your SARCs?

During this time of financial duress, district leaders are carefully managing every nickel. One item often cut from the budget is SARC printing. This compromise may make sense from a budgetary standpoint, but what are you risking by not printing and distributing SARCs to your public?

COMPLIANCE PROBLEMS

First, by not printing your accountability reports, you may risk exposure to federal NCLB compliance problems. You can review the U.S. Dept. of Education's September 12 guidelines, which state:

...Because not all parents and members of the public have access to the Internet, posting report cards on the Internet alone is not a sufficient means for disseminating State and district report cards.

LEAs must disseminate district and school report cards to:

All schools served by the local educational agency;
All parents of students attending those schools; and
The community, through public means, such as posting on the Internet, distribution to the media, and distribution through public agencies, public libraries, etc.

Read the guideline in full.

WASTING STAFF TIME

Second, by not printing your SARCs, you risk wasting valuable staff time in creating reports that don't reach the majority of your public. Your principals dutifully write up their portion of their schools' SARCs. You bring the missing data on suspensions, expulsions, out-of-field teaching, and school safety into each of your schools' SARCs. Your team imports all this into your designs, your web administration staff loads the files to the district database, and they create the navigational paths to the accountability reports. But who sees them? Improving your return-on-investment means reaching more readers, and getting a better bang for your district's bucks. If most of your public fails to read them, then much of that work is wasted

UNINFORMED PUBLIC

Third, if you don't print your SARCs, your public which is not online will be unlikely to gain knowledge of schoolwide API results, test score results, facilities needs, safety factors, teacher credentials, and more. Parents won't have an annual report to discuss at the kitchen table after the kids go to bed--one that tells them how the school and district are responding to the financial crisis. The goals set forth in your Single School Plans won't be conveyed to the public you're serving. When the next election rolls around, and your district's new bond measure is on the ballot, will the dollars you saved not printing your SARC be considered penny wise but pound-foolish?

TIPS

The cost of printing and distribution is less than you think — if you plan with care. Here are some tips to help you create a smart and cost-effective dissemination plan.

1. Print a summary report. Printing a shorter report will save money and get most of your schools' facts into the hands of your public. Printing from an outside printer can cost as little as 10 cents per copy. (Your district's in-house print shop might offer more favorable rates.)

2. Distribute reports with other mailings home (report card mailings, for example).

3. Distribute SARCs at parent conferences or at spring Open House events When parents are gathered together right on school grounds, the accountability report can become the subject of conversation. Not only is your distribution cost nil. Your benefit in improved public understanding is far, far higher.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

See a previous SARC BITE on federal regulations covering dissemination and understandability.

See the Education Beat newsletter, which reports on SARC regulations and the accountability reporting policies of California's Dept. of Education and the U.S. Dept. of Education.