David Osborne
The Public Strategies Group

Budgeting for Results (not Cuts) in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis
May, 2008

David Osborne talked about how to squeeze better results out of less money by Budgeting for Outcomes, a technique pioneered by his firm, The Public Strategies Group.

In this seminar, he discussed the lessons he's learned from:

• California's 1978 Prop. 13 cuts, which clipped 23 percent from the spending power of local governments;
• The Minneapolis public school system, which his firm, The Public Strategies Group, ran for three and a half years during the 1990s
• The fiscal crisis of 2001–2004, when his firm helped Governor Gary Locke of Washington, who had to slash the state budget by 14 percent, focus the state's creativity not on what to cut, but on what to keep, buying results the public wanted for the price they were willing to pay.

David Osborne is a nationally-known expert and author on reinventing government. He has advised Vice-President Al Gore, helping him run his "reinventing government task force," the National Performance Review. David was the chief author of the NPR report, called by Time Magazine "... the most readable federal document in memory."

Together with his firm, The Public Strategies Group, David has helped Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Gov. Lawton Chiles of Florida, and Gov. Gary Locke of Washington, as well as many cities and counties, successfully steer their states through hard times. His methods are just as relevant to leaders of school districts facing the challenge of "me-me" stakeholders scrambling for their piece of a shrinking budget pie.

RESOURCES:
"The Osborne Letter"—a series of essays and short articles written by David Osborne on the people who make government work in new ways.
"The Price of Government, Budgeting for Outcomes"—This is a handy summary of the 2004 book by David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson that spells out a new way of thinking about budgeting, and a new approach to steering your organization toward the results you want.
"The Spread of Budgeting for Outcomes"—an essay on the growing successes enjoyed by public sector leaders who were guided and inspired by "The Price of Government" by David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson.
"Your Budget, From Axe to Aim," appearing in the May 2007 issue of Public Management Magazine—An essay by Darin Atteberry, city manager of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Camille Cates Barnett, a former partner in the Public Strategies Group, describing how budgeting for results helped them get a handle on a wild budget crisis in 2005.

Ted Lempert
Executive Director, Children Now

Education Reforms during the California Budget Deficit
April, 2008

Ted Lempert, executive director of Children Now, shared his views of the opportunities to create intelligent education reforms in the face of the state's budget crisis. His experience co-chairing the committee, with former Sen. Dede Alpert, on the Master Plan for K-16, gives him an unusual vantage point.

This seminar is appropriate for superintendents, communication directors, public information officers, SARC liaisons, categorical directors, federal and state program directors. Participants learned about the factors that contribute to document and numeric literacy, and how to estimate the effectiveness of your own data intensive reports with different audiences.

RESOURCES:
See the K–12 education policy of Children Now
Children Now, "County Data Book," 2007
Children Now, "2008 California Report Card"
Children Now’s report, "The Promise of Preschool"
Children Now’s policy brief, "Effectively Expanding California's After School System: Overcoming the Workforce Supply Obstacle," March 2008

Read biographical information about Ted Lempert on the Children Now Web site.

Listen to an audio file of this teleconference [24MB mp3 file]

John Affeldt
Guillermo Mayer
Liz Guillen
Public Advocates

A Conversation with Attorneys from Public Advocates
March, 2008

In a conversation with Steve Rees, these three public interest attorneys shared the background on the legal audits of districts' accountability reporting practices. In 2007, they sued Oakland USD, and sent warning letters to eight other districts about the condition of their SARCs. Their watchdog role has been both cheered and booed by district leaders. John Affeldt will discuss why his organization cares about the effectiveness, timeliness and understandability of districts' accountability report cards. He will also share his team's findings from two years of audits.

They discussed how to help your district pass the compliance check-ups on SARCs. The summer audits of SARCs by Public Advocates is just one of three reviews.

Public Advocates published the results of their summer 2007 SARC audits in a 20-page report. It is the only published analysis of the condition of accountability reporting in California that we are aware of.

Listen to an audio file of this teleconference [52.5MB mp3 file]

John B. Mockler
President of John B. Mockler and Associates

"The Schools Suck Industry: Who Says We’re Not Getting Our Money’s Worth?"
February, 2008

This seminar is a candid, funny and serious presentation of the good work that educators have accomplished in the face of diminishing public support and dwindling resources. Mr. Mockler draws evidence from data that’s available to us all, but which is rarely seen in a clear light. It is a distillation of a talk titled "Are Californians Getting Their Money’s Worth from Their Public Schools?" that Mr. Mockler gave at the EdSource Forum in Palo Alto and Pasadena in March 2007.

This seminar is appropriate for superintendents, board members, SARC liaisons, Williams coordinators, public information officers, communication directors, categorical directors, federal and state program directors.

See John Mockler's presentation, "Who Says We're Not Getting Our Money's Worth?" [5MB PDF file]

Listen to an audio file of this teleconference [42MB mp3 file]

Senator Joseph Simitian
(D-Palo Alto)

The passage of Senate Bill 687, which added school-level financial reporting to the SARC, put the spotlight on what schools actually spend and on differences in teacher pay among schools. Senator Simitian, as the author of SB 687, will share the story behind the legislation and the intent behind the policy.

This seminar is appropriate for superintendents, chief business officers, directors of human resources, SARC liaisons, Williams coordinators, public information officers, communication directors, and categorical directors.

RESOURCES:
SB 687 (Simitian, D—Palo Alto)
SARC data guidelines for what schools spend and what teachers earn
Calculating the current expense of education
School Wise Press User's Guide to SB687 Reporting Module
"Teacher Compensation and Local Labor Market Conditions in California:
Implications for School Funding" by Heather Rose, Ria Sengupta, March 2007
"School Resources and Academic Standards in California: Lessons from the Schoolhouse" by Heather Rose, Jon Sonstelie, and Ray Reinhard, January 2006

Lynda Nichols
CDE consultant in the NCLB Professional Development Curriculum Support Division

"Narrowing the Achievement Gap by Monitoring and Managing the Equitable Distribution of Teachers"
December, 2007

An important first step in closing the achievement gap is determining teacher quality on the basis of effectiveness in the classroom rather than simply on the basis of qualifications for entry into the teaching profession. Subject matter competency is a major component of teacher effectiveness. In this seminar, you’ll learn how CDE will be monitoring teacher distribution and what technical assistance is available.

This seminar is appropriate for directors of human resources, superintendents, board members, SARC liaisons, Williams coordinators, public information officers, communication directors, and federal and state program directors.

Listen to this seminar [mp3 file].

RESOURCES:
Preview the Powerpoint slides from a prior presentation by Lynda Nichols, on "The Equitable Distribution of High Quality and Experienced Teachers."

Brooks Allen
American Civil Liberties Union

"The Impact of Williams Legislation"
November, 2007

The ACLU, as part of a team of public interest law firms and civil rights organizations, brought the lawsuit that resulted in the 2004 Williams settlement legislation. After two years, how much have schools improved? Brooks Allen, the ACLU’s point man on the on the Williams legislation, provided an overview of that progress.

Listen to this seminar [mp3 file].

RESOURCES:
Williams v. California: The Statewide Impact of two Years of Implementation
Decent Schools for California

Professor Gary Blasi
UCLA School of Law

"The Public's Perception of the SARC
and the CDE Template"
October, 2007

Professor Blasi conducted the first study on the understandability of the CDE SARC template. The study’s conclusions sparked attempts to reform the SARC.  His study called the CDE SARC template "a failure," and faulted it for weaknesses in writing, design, structure, and data presentation.  In light of the Governor’s signing AB1061 reforming SARCs, Prof. Blasi discussed the reforms address the fundamental flaws his study identified.

Listen to this seminar [mp3 file].

RESOURCES:
Grading the Report Card: A Report on the Readability of the School Accountability Report Card (SARC)
About Gary Blasi

385 Ashton Ave., Ste. 200
San Francisco, CA 94112
TEL: 800-247-8443 or 415-337-7971
FAX: 415-337-1146

WEB: www.schoolwisepress.com
EMAIL: jake.reid@schoolwisepress.com