December 10, 2010

Due to recent actions at the state level there is an opportunity to apply for an expedited waiver of the February 1, 2011 SARC deadline (Education Code 35256). Completed waivers received by the CDE Waiver Office (signed and electronic copy) by January 7, 2011 will be processed to the January 12-13, 2011 State Board of Education meeting for approval. The CDE will also continue to process the remainder of waivers, retroactively, for approve at the March 2011 SBE meeting or later if required.

Support for expedited waivers stems from two primary factors that are unique to this reporting cycle. First, the delay by the state from July 2010 to November 2010 to approve 2010-2011 School Accountability Report Card template changes. This has given less time for LEAs to revise their narratives. Secondly, the CDE has recently decided to cease “pre-populating” the SARC templates with data that has been typically provided to districts, due to recent cuts to CDE’s operating budget. The shift of responsibility for all SARC data collection to LEAs, coupled with the late changes to the SARC itself, creates excessive staffing and funding burdens on many districts and schools with short notice. Please click here to access the SARC Waiver Form on CDE’s website.

ACSA is continuing to advocate for a dedicated funding source to bring back the pre-population of school SARCs as a cost*-effective state function to ensure timely and accurate data. Further, we will advocate for more timely process for changes to the template requirements for next year. For further questions regarding the waiver process you can email waiver@cde.ca.gov.