In clear recognition of our members’ fiscal constraints, CSBA is holding the line on membership dues for the upcoming fiscal year. In April, school districts, county offices of education and regional occupational centers/programs will be billed the same amount as they were in 2008-09 for both CSBA and Education Legal Alliance dues. Renewing members for 2009-10 will continue to have access to the association’s wide range of valuable programs, services and support.
In recognition of the financial stress being experienced by the association’s members, the CSBA Board of Directors approved a budget for 2009-10 that freezes dues levels for the first time in memory and reduces expenditures by nearly 10 percent.
CSBA: We weather the budget crisis with you
Maximizing scarce resources in this economic crisis is a top priority for school governance teams. But you’re not facing this fiscal crisis alone. CSBA has taken extraordinary steps to support and serve our members during these tough times.
CSBA offers an array of programs, products and services that can make a difference to the bottom line. Through innovation, new programs and enhancement of existing programs and services, we can help you weather this storm.
Save money on administrative services
Government Purchasing Alliance
Receive volume discounts on selected office supplies, cleaning supplies, furniture, equipment and other products. The Government Purchasing Alliance allows you to buy items at deep discounts based on competitively bid contracts by a lead local agency. There is no cost to participate in this program.
AgendaOnline
AgendaOnline is an electronic board meeting agenda service that saves staff time and resources. It’s a Web-based application that allows development of and access to board meeting information including agendas, supporting documents and minutes, from any computer that has Internet access. Yearly potential paper cost savings average $7,164 per district.
Policy Development Services
CSBA offers a variety of money-saving services to help you keep your policy manuals current. In Policy Development Workshops, staff and board representatives work with our consultants to customize a legally compliant policy manual. For maintenance of policy manuals, you can also rely on the Manual Maintenance Service which provides policy updates three times a year and ongoing consulting and word processing assistance. Coupled with GAMUT™ Online, Manual Maintenance offers districts even more savings by eliminating paper and printing costs while allowing access to district policies through the Internet. Also available is the Policy Audit Program, where a consultant reviews your policy manual, checks for mandates and important legal requirements, and recommends necessary action.
Save money on student services
Practi-Cal
CSBA offers the most comprehensive Medi-Cal and Medicaid Administrative billing services available to local education agencies. Practi-Cal simplifies the complicated billing process of filing reimbursement claims for health services provided to eligible students in the school setting, as well as MAA outreach activities. We identify areas of reimbursement often overlooked by others, while minimizing your efforts. There are no up-front costs and reimbursement dollars can help to increase the amount of funding you have to improve and enhance health services to your students.
Special Education Review
In partnership with School Innovations & Advocacy, this service helps you determine ways to reallocate existing resources while maintaining program integrity for all students. We work collaboratively with your staff to produce a review process that can improve programs and reduce costs. The review process helps you gather documentation on your special education programs, conduct an operations analysis, and provide results and recommendations aligned to your district's core values.
Mandate Prep and SiteServ
CSBA also partners with School Innovations & Advocacy to provide Mandate Prep, a comprehensive and personalized service to ensure claims are fully compliant and filed on time for rightful reimbursement. Also available is SiteServ, a mandate program that directly assists local school sites.
PaySchools™
PaySchools™ provides a convenient, online payment processing system which reduces the time required by school staff. There are no up-front fees, no monthly minimum payments and no annual fee. Districts are assessed a flat percentage of purchases made during the month and fees are calculated and drawn from the school’s account at the end of the month. Once a district is set up with PaySchools, parents access it through a link
on the district’s Web site.
Optimize your employee benefits
RecoveryMax
RecoveryMax can reduce your benefit plan costs without cutting any employee benefits. Our Benefit Eligibility Review helps identify significant savings in benefit plans such as medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance. We partner with Keygent to verify that you are providing benefits only to those people eligible for coverage. We also confirm that benefit-related reimbursements are accurately made through employee payroll deductions or manually written checks.
Tax Deferred Retirement Savings Program
The Tax Deferred Retirement Savings Program provides time-saving management solutions and cost savings related to 403(b) plan administration programs, 457 deferred compensation plans, and specialized early retirement incentive plans. We partner with the TDS Group to provide a single source for all your retirement needs, including compliance, remittance and management of all investment options.
GASB 45 Solutions
CSBA works with Public Agency Retirement Services and Piper Jaffray & Co., to provide a comprehensive one-stop GASB 45 Solutions program. You have access to qualified consultants to recommend strategies to address your unfunded GASB 45 liability; a GASB 45-compliant trust to pre-fund future obligations; and year-round administrative and compliance support. A streamlined process is available for LEAs with fewer than 100 members. Put your retiree health benefits fund on the same financial footing as pensions and reduce general fund contributions.
Save money on facilities programs
Telecom and Utility Cost Recovery
CSBA partners with Northwest Capital Recovery Group to analyze utility and telecom bills for over-billing of services. We specialize in recovering overcharges in the areas of telecommunications, electricity, natural gas, garbage and water/sewer/storm. There is no risk or out-of-pocket cost. This is purely a performance-based analysis—if we don’t find anything, you owe nothing. You may enjoy major cost reductions in the future, as well.
Facilities Planning
CSBA partners with Total School Solutions to offer a wide array of facilities-related services. We help districts make well-planned changes that affect staffing, financing and student housing needs, and project enrollments; review school boundaries and student housing needs; analyze budgets; develop clearly articulated facilities master plans that serve the needs and interests of all students in a community; and perform developer fees justification studies.
California Playground Compliance
CSBA's California Playground Compliance Program provides quality rubber safety surfacing and other compliance services for playgrounds to help keep your kids safe, healthy and fit. Let us help ensure your playgrounds are compliant with both safety and accessibility standards in accordance with AB 1144. We offer a full-service solution for safety surfacing, play and fitness equipment, inspections, professional design, installation and ongoing maintenance.
Smart Assessment
CSBA partners with Innovative Energy Services to help implement “green technology” while improving the environment, reducing operating costs and increasing your district’s discretionary funds.
Make the most of your CSBA membership!
Let us know how we can help you. Contact CSBA toll-free at (800) 266-3382 and our knowledgeable staff will assist you. You may also e-mail us at csba@csba.org.
Thank you for your commitment to CSBA.
Your ongoing support makes it possible for us to continue providing the widest range of support and services available for school districts, county offices of education and regional occupational centers/programs that serve California’s more than six million schoolchildren.