planning for sustainability toolkit

Planning for SuStainability toolkit

Magnet SchoolS aSSiStance PrograM

Planning for SuStainability toolkitPrepared by

The MSAP Center and The Finance Project

2013

This publication was produced by the Magnet Schools Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center (MSAP Center) in collaboration with The Finance Project.

The MSAP Center is a technical assistance resource for MSAP grantees and the general magnet schools community. It offers tools, information, and strategies to assist in planning, implementing, and sustaining programs. The ultimate goal of the MSAP Center is to help magnet schools provide communities with educational opportunities that promote diversity, academic excellence, and equity.

The Finance Project is a specialized, nonprofit research, consulting, technical assistance, and training firm for public and private sector leaders. It helps leaders make smart investment decisions; develop sound financing strategies; and build solid partnerships that benefit children, families, and communities.

This publication was produced in whole or in part with funds from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) under the following contract number: ED-OII-10-C-0079. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the ED and no official endorsement by ED should be inferred.

Magnet Schools Assistance ProgramPlanning for Sustainability Toolkit

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Magnet SchoolS aSSiStance PrograM Planning for SuStainability toolkitSustainability is crucial to Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) schools. When the U.S. Department of Education (ED) reviews grant applications, it gives weight to Commitment and Capacity—the potential of the magnet schools to continue beyond grant funding. MSAP schools must be sustained if they are to achieve the key magnet goals of developing rigorous, theme-based curricula to help desegregate schools and improve student achievement.

Beginning sustainability planning early in the funding period makes it more likely that MSAP schools will be successful over time. An important sustainability milestone occurs 3 years after grant funding ends, when ED will collect data from the grantees to report on Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) measures 4 and 5:

Measure 4: The percentage of magnet schools that received assistance that are still operating magnet school programs three years after federal funding ends.

Measure 5: The percentage of magnet schools that received assistance that meet or exceed state adequate yearly progress standards.

In addition, grantees will be expected to sustain all components of their magnet programs by preserving themed-based and innovative instruction, enrolling racially and ethnically diverse students, maintaining community partnerships, engaging families, and improving academic achievement.

A sustainability plan has numerous benefits: It spells out strategies and actions to sustain magnet schools beyond the MSAP grant. It prepares a school to continue under a variety of financial circumstances. A sustainability plan helps the MSAP school engage with key stakeholders invested in the project’s long-term success. Finally, a clear, sensible, and convincing plan will help magnet schools demonstrate their value to district leaders, community partners, and funders.

4 Magnet Schools Assistance ProgramPlanning for Sustainability Toolkit

Sustainability depends on establishing and securing the key elements that make an MSAP school successful. It inevitably requires adequate funding. But it also requires an array of political, technical, and bureaucratic resources. Figuring out the resources you will need and how to marshal them is what sustainability planning is all about. The finished plan gives magnet leaders a road map for where they are going and benchmarks for determining whether they are successfully reaching their goals.

Using the Toolkit

This toolkit builds on technical assistance provided in a four-part webinar series to members of the 2010 MSAP cohort by ED, the Magnet Schools Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center (MSAP Center), and The Finance Project. This toolkit brings together strategies presented in the webinar series and tips posted on the Magnet Connector—the MSAP Center’s online community of practice. It places the information firmly in the magnet context by providing step-by-step instructions on sustainability planning for MSAP grantees.

In this toolkit, MSAP schools will find guidance and resources to help address the following considerations:

1. What magnet components need to be sustained?

2. What are the fiscal and nonfiscal needs of the MSAP school?

3. What resources currently exist to fill those needs?

4. What are the resource gaps?

5. What monetary and other resources and strategies will help fill the resource gaps?

With this toolkit, your MSAP school will have the information and resources you need to create a written sustainability plan. You will gain

• a basic understanding of sustainability planning;

• the skills to anticipate possible challenges;

• the capacity and tools to build the best team possible to share planning responsibility; and

• the knowledge of how to launch a sustainability planning process.


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While this toolkit is targeted to individual MSAP schools, school leaders may also want to work with other MSAP schools in the district to create a program-level sustainability plan. Together, leaders can identify common needs of multiple MSAP schools, and consider ways to leverage resources across those schools. Remember that key champions are resources, too, and magnet school leaders can work together to build a coalition of support in the district.

To stay on course and meet expectations during and after the MSAP grant, follow the sustainability planning steps and schedule below, or establish your own. You can find additional support in the webinars that have been archived on the MSAP Center website in the private workspace. And, MSAP Center staff will continue to help with sustainability planning through future technical assistance activities.

• Year 1: Review the Commitment and Capacity statements in your grant application. Develop relationships in the community, with an eye toward identifying key champions, and vet people who would be assets to your sustainability planning team. Complete activities in Sections 1 and 2 to prepare for sustainability planning.

• Year 2: Convene your sustainability planning team and work together to write the sustainability plan, adhering to a specific timeline. When the approved plan is completed, officially communicate it to staff and stakeholders to generate buy-in and support. Complete Sections 3 and 4 to develop the sustainability plan.

• Year 3: Begin implementing the plan. Make sure each person understands his/her role, assigned tasks, goals, and timelines for completing the tasks. Monitor the activities (e.g., applying for grants, enhancing themed-based curriculum, or teacher training) to ensure they are implemented as planned and on budget. Work with your key champions and other supporters to help you spread the word about what magnet schools offer to the community.

• Year 4 (no-cost extension year): Review the work done in Section 4 and modify the sustainability plan as needed to address new opportunities or unexpected challenges that could impact your magnet school’s success. Continue to do this for the life of the magnet school.


Contents

This toolkit is divided into four sections, plus an appendix, and is designed to guide MSAP schools through each phase of a sustainability planning project.

• Section 1: Building the Framework. This section provides guidance to help MSAP schools identify key stakeholders, and to designate focus and issue areas when launching a sustainability planning process.

• Section 2: Aligning Project Activities With Goals and Results. This section helps MSAP schools understand the purpose of a logic model and learn to use a logic model as a foundation for setting the scope and scale of magnet programs.

• Section 3: Creating a Strategic Financing Approach. In this section, MSAP schools will learn to estimate the costs of specific magnet project activities, catalog current resources, assess resource gaps, apply key financing strategies, and identify appropriate strategies to sustain their magnet programs.

• Section 4: Putting It All Together. This section helps MSAP school planning team members structure, develop, and write a sustainability plan to support their efforts to achieve sustainability.

• Appendix. Worksheets and sample documents can be found here; they are referenced throughout the sections.


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Section 1: building the fraMeworkThis section provides an overview of the concepts, steps, and critical resources for an effective and successful sustainability planning effort. It focuses on clarifying sustainability goals, understanding and identifying key aspects of the sustainability planning process, and developing a sustainability workplan.

This section provides information and tools so magnet schools can understand

• why sustainability planning is important;

• what to consider before planning for sustainability at your magnet school;

• who to involve to be successful; and

• how to structure the sustainability planning process to fit your needs.

Why Create a Sustainability Plan?

Sustaining magnet schools depends on developing a clear, sensible, and convincing plan for organizing the key resources that are necessary to continue (and often to expand) the work. Under the MSAP grant, schools are required to apply special themes and curricula, hire quality teachers, implement professional development opportunities, desegregate schools, and engage parents and the community. These activities take time and resources. A documented sustainability plan can help support the planning, implementation, and coordination of these activities.

Understanding the Eight Elements of Sustainability

There are eight key elements of sustainability. These are the required characteristics for a magnet school to survive through the inevitable financial and personnel transitions:

1. Vision. Vision is the foundation for sustainability planning. Developing a clear vision involves articulating a concise statement that captures what a magnet school aims to achieve. It helps with identifying the end results and the strategies that will lead to those results, and with analyzing how the magnet school fits within the community.

Questions to Consider

• Which of the eight elements of sustainability is a particular strength of your magnet school?

• Which of the eight elements of sustainability is a particular weakness of your magnet school?


2. Results orientation. A results orientation helps a magnet school continue to improve effectiveness, and to maintain and expand the support of funders and key stakeholders. To implement a results orientation, a magnet school should use data to clearly define the results it wants to achieve. Then the school should identify and implement strategies and activities that can reasonably be expected to lead to the desired results, based on research, best practice, and experience. Next, magnet school leaders should identify appropriate measures and collect data to determine the effectiveness of the intervention and the progress being made toward the goal. Use these data to reflect on and refine the strategy throughout the process.

3. Strategic financing orientation. Developing a strategic financing orientation involves clearly identifying what the school needs to sustain the work, and then systematically analyzing the appropriateness and feasibility of a range of public and private financing options. An effective strategic financing approach should contain a diverse portfolio of public and private sector funding aligned with specific purposes. Sections 3 provides information on creating a strategic financing approach.

4. Broad-based community support. Broad-based community support is vital to the long-term sustainability of magnet schools. To achieve this support, a magnet school must identify community stakeholders who are critical to achieving the vision, consider how to involve those stakeholders in the effort, and develop and undertake outreach efforts. When the magnet school is viewed as a vital part of the community, funding will often follow.

5. Key champions. Key champions are leaders from business, community- and faith-based institutions, government, and other sectors who have power and influence and are willing to use their prestige to generate support and focus community resources and energy for the school. Identifying and engaging key champions is tied to creating a broad base of community support. In fact, key champions can help your magnet school achieve that wide-ranging support. Focus first on engaging key champions who show some affinity for or are connected to the work happening in your magnet school.

6. Adaptability to changing conditions. Change is inevitable, and the most successful magnet schools can anticipate and adapt to change. Build capacity to track, contribute to, and adapt to changes in community and policy environments, and position the magnet school to respond to national, state, and local decisionmakers’ priorities.

7. Strong internal systems. Strong internal systems are absolutely essential to ongoing quality, efficiency, and accountability; these systems become increasingly critical as magnet schools grow. Strong internal systems include fiscal systems such as accounting, auditing, and procurement; human resource systems; information systems to track evaluation data; and communication systems to connect effectively within the school and with partners in the community. Establishing strong internal systems requires time, resources, and careful planning, as well as support and dedication to maintain the systems once they are in place. Take advantage of systems provided by the district, and whenever possible, tailor those systems to magnet school needs.

8. Sustainability plan. A written sustainability plan demonstrates your magnet school’s dedication to its role in the community’s future. It says you know where you are going and how you will get there. It provides confirmation of what was agreed upon, and produces a sense of accomplishment for those involved in the planning efforts. Use the plan to market your magnet vision and to help key stakeholders understand school goals and how they can support those goals. The plan will help you with ongoing management and workplan development. The plan should contain key information regarding the vision, the resources needed to achieve the vision, and how the school intends to gather those resources. Section 4 provides detailed information on writing a sustainability plan.

Clarifying a Sustainability Vision To create a strong sustainability plan, begin with a vision or goal in mind. This will help you frame the planning and provide a clear purpose for the work. Magnet leaders should start by meeting with staff to ensure common understandings, such as

• the importance of sustainability planning to the MSAP grant and magnet goals;

• factors to consider when planning for sustainability (e.g., what program components need to be sustained and which are currently being supported with MSAP or other funds external to the district);

• who needs to be involved in the planning process for it to be successful (e.g., which staff members, community partners); and

• how the process will be structured and what its goals are.

Section 2 discusses how to use a logic model to represent the school’s vision.


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Primary Sustainability Goals

• To sustain a theme-based magnet school.

• To respond continually to community needs.

• To sustain a magnet school that recruits a diverse, desegregated student body.

Take a Look

• Tool 1: Clarifying Magnet Schools Assistance Program Planning Parameters

Through a set of key questions, this worksheet helps to set clear expectations and to identify resources that can be committed to the process. Magnet schools can modify and expand the questions based on circumstances, the parameters they choose to set, and the level of detail needed.

• Tool 2: Sample Timeline for Sustainability Planning

The sample timeline offers a guide for developing a schedule for the sustainability planning process. This example reflects an 8-month planning process. Depending on the structure and maturity of a school, the planning process can range from 3 months to a year. Each magnet school should adapt the timeline to its specific needs.

Structuring the Sustainability Planning Team

It is important to involve the right people from the beginning of the sustainability planning process. The appropriate team will vary depending on the magnet school’s specific sustainability goals, and you might want to include both internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders may include representatives of the school advisory board; key school and district staff; the school principal and administration; and parents, families, and students. External stakeholders can include

business, faith, and foundation leaders; city or state agency staff; university and community content partners; workforce development agency staff; after-school care providers; and other potential school partners.

Once you have determined potential team members, decide on the best structure for managing the planning process. The structure can vary depending on the MSAP school’s needs and resources. As long as you establish an ongoing core group, you might choose to rotate people into the process when they can be most valuable, then rotate them out when people with other skills or roles can contribute. Possible structures include the following:

• Full group participation. The entire group works together on all aspects of plan development. This approach is the most time consuming, but it is particularly useful when there are significant questions about sustainability goals.


• Subgroup structure. Small groups that include both internal and external members complete specific tasks and report back to the full group. This is effective when members have limited time to commit to meetings and discussions, and the school needs to build strong staff and community support for sustainability.

• Staff-driven approach. Individual magnet staff members take the lead on gathering and analyzing information, presenting findings, and preparing draft statements and recommendations for consideration by the full group. This is most useful when sustainability planning has strong staff support and the group has a history of working together; it is less time consuming than the other models.

Take a Look

• Tool 3: Sustainability Self-Assessment

The first step in writing a sustainability plan is to take stock of the magnet school’s current status. This tool walks planners through the diagnostic process. The information gathered can guide the development of the sustainability plan to capitalize on your school’s theme, community engagement, and capacity building. This tool can also help magnet schools make decisions about how to target scarce resources to move toward sustainability.

Identifying Sustainability Challenges

The self-assessment process may reveal potential challenges for your magnet school, and you will surely encounter challenges throughout the sustainability planning process. Perhaps challenges you have already experienced prompted a fresh interest in sustainability planning. Fortunately, each challenge can lead to new and expanded opportunities. Consider the following examples:

1. Your magnet school may be struggling to attract new students. Consider ramping up your marketing to targeted student groups. You may also take this opportunity to survey the community about its interests and needs, then seek out a new partner to help you respond to what you learn.

2. Your magnet school may have lost a particular source of funding. This presents an opportunity to reach out to local and national organizations, and to network with other magnet schools, to identify and apply for new funding. You may gain greater financial sustainability and the potential for a stronger program.

3. Your magnet school may be struggling to fully integrate the theme into the curriculum. This can


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be an opportunity to engage teachers and other staff members in curriculum development and mapping activities that get them excited about the curriculum and their role in the magnet school. Collaborative work strengthens relationships and trust, and contributes to building a true community of practice.

Developing a Workplan

The work you do in Section 1 lays the foundation for writing a workplan that details specific tasks and identifies who is responsible for gathering information, conducting analyses, preparing documents, and approving recommendations. The sustainability planning workplan should take into account the full scope of planning activities you envision, build on previous strategic planning work, and consider what is realistic based on the interests and time constraints of planning group members. See Section 4 for more guidance on developing a workplan.

Next Steps

1. Gather a sustainability planning group and complete Tool 1: Clarifying Magnet Schools Assistance Program Planning Parameters.

2. Complete Tool 3: Sustainability Self-Assessment.


Section 2: aligning Project activitieS with goalS and reSultSThis section provides guidance on how a logic model, a visual representation of the theory of change, can be used as a communication and monitoring tool for project sustainability.

In this section, magnet schools will find information on:

• Understanding logic models within the unique context of each school by helping magnet leaders think about:

o specific strategies and activities that support attainment of school goals;

o how to roll out those strategies and activities; and

o how to measure success.

• Demonstrating how logic models relate to project sustainability. Magnet schools that develop clear logic models, using information from a current theory of change or implementation plan, have a ready tool that communicates to prospective funders, key champions, and current and prospective community supporters how the magnet school intends to achieve its results. It also equips stakeholders to become ambassadors for the program.

• Articulating the school’s clear implementation plans for a 3- to 5-year period. By completing Tool 4, a magnet school will lay out when each of its planned activities will expand or contract, or if they will stay constant over time. To develop actionable strategic financing plans, a school must first have a clear understanding of the planned project components and activities.


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Theory of Action

A theory of change details how a magnet school will accomplish its goals. The theory includes:

• Outcomes. Performance measures and other goals.

• Interventions. The activities used to achieve the desired outcomes.

• Assumptions. Research or other knowledge that shows why the selected interventions will achieve the outcomes.

Logic Model

Your magnet school may or may not already have a logic model, something that can be an incredibly valuable tool in planning for sustainability. This visual representation of the project’s theory of change indicates why the unique strategies and activities will assist the school in reaching its goals and measuring its progress.

A logic model can be used to:

• define the strategies and activities a schoolwants to sustain;

• communicate the plan for rolling out andimplementing strategies and activities; and

• identify how to measure progress.

A logic model can also help magnet schools consider what they can realistically expect to achieve based on planned strategies and activities.

Using the Logic Model

Logic models are an important way to clearly demonstrate what you are trying to achieve, how you plan to achieve it, and how you plan to measure results. Use a logic model to educate staff, partners, and potential funders about the magnet school. A logic model can

• help the program communicate how the unique set of strategies and activities willachieve the desired results;

• educate donors about the magnet school;

• attract and strengthen community partnerships for the school;

• clearly lay out the project’s activities andtheir annual growth (scope and scale);and

• lay the groundwork for the strategicfinancing plan.


See the "Using Logic Models to Build Strong Magnet Programs" toolkit for additional information.

What Is a Logic Model?

A logic model is simply a visual representation of the “theory of change” that demonstrates:

• what you’re trying to achieve;

• how you plan to achieve it;and

• how you plan to measure theresults.

Considering Scale and Scope of Sustaining Strategies and Activities

Once your magnet school develops a logic model, the next consideration is the timeframe for the sustainability plan. What magnet activities do you want to maintain, start, or grow over the next 3 to 5 years? Are the resources and team in place to start planning now? Are there barriers to starting the planning now? You must also consider during what phase of the MSAP grant to put the sustainability plan in place. We recommend starting the sustainability planning 12-18 months before the grant ends. After deciding on a timeframe for your plan, you are ready to consider the scale at which you want to sustain key magnet strategies and activities.

Take a Look

• Tool 4: Clarifying Which Magnet School Program Activities to Sustain

Once you have clearly defined the strategies and activities you plan to offer in your MSAP school, this tool will help you define the specific time frame, level of service, and maintenance elements associated with each. Completing this tool is a first—and essential—step toward developing reliable cost, revenue, and financial gap data. This information will set a path for clarifying the scope and scale of the strategies and activities that you want to sustain.

Next Steps

1. Complete Tool 4: Clarifying Which Magnet School Activities to Sustain.


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Section 3: creating a Strategic financing aPProachInformation in this section can help your magnet school understand its unique set of project costs and resources over the next 3 to 5 years. Specifically, the section covers these four steps:

• Estimating fiscal needs. This helps schools determine the costs to achieve their goals.

• Identifying current resources. This step encourages schools to inventory resources (cash and in-kind) and determine the time frame when those resources will be available.

• Assessing resource gaps. After estimating fiscal needs and cataloging current resources, a school can assess the gaps between what it needs and what it has. You will learn how to best align and compare the cost estimates and available resources to assess your needs.

• Considering customized strategies to support the magnet school. This step highlights examples of financing strategies, both monetary and nonmonetary, that a magnet school can use to fill its resource gaps.

Before starting this section, take a moment to review the work you did to clarify which activities you want to sustain (Tool 6). This section will address the financial considerations necessary to sustain these strategies and activities.

The Importance of Strategic Financing

Knowing the estimated cost of the magnet school program and what resources are needed to accomplish the goals supports your planning in these ways:

• clearly demonstrates fiscal and nonfiscal needs when requesting funding;

• guides a plan of action for sustaining the magnet school past the MSAP grant term;

• helps to define priorities when you seek new funding and partnerships; and

• points to an approach for effectively leveraging resources you currently have to obtain new resources.


In-kind Resources

In-kind resources may not seem to have a monetary value at first glance. These services are provided by partners or volunteers and may include donating time, providing professional development at no cost, or donating goods. To determine the value of in-kind resources, identify how much the school would normally pay for the services or goods.

Financial Planning Considerations

When developing a strategic financing approach, your magnet school will want to capture cost and resource information in a variety of configurations. This will help you understand what it costs to produce the outcomes you want to achieve, and the resources you have to support those costs. Organize costs and resources by goal and type of activity (e.g., theme-based, professional development, family engagement) so that you can understand the full cost of each activity as you develop future strategies.

Step 1: Estimate Financial NeedsAfter the school identifies the magnet program components to sustain, the first step in developing a strategic financing plan is to determine how much it will cost to support those components. Use the list of activities you identified in Tool 6. If your focus is on maintaining the current level of activities, past budgets will provide a clear picture of the costs associated with sustaining the initiative. If your magnet school plans to expand or add new activities, past budget information may help you estimate the new program costs. However, if the school plans to increase the quality or number of services significantly, you may need to seek financial information from other organizations, particularly potential partners or service providers, to help you develop the cost estimates.

Your magnet school will need to consider a range of elements, based on the particular focus of your initiative. You will need to sort costs into two basic types:

• Program costs are associated with the provision of services or activities through a particular program or site. Program costs include the following:

o Start-up or ramp-up costs. These might be one-time costs to get the program or site up and running, such as initial staff training, planning, and community assessment, and ramp-up costs might include projected cost escalations associated with planned expansions, such as adding new grade levels to the magnet program over time; and

o Ongoing operating costs—continuing costs of running the program or providing the service, including staff salaries, equipment, and administration. In this category, projected cost escalations can include annual pay raises for staff.


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Things to Remember

• Take into account ramp-up goals and projected cost escalations.

• Consider several ways to present the information (by goal or by type of activity).

• Account for all costs, not just those that are allowable under U.S. Department of Education funding.

• Infrastructure costs are associated with the infrastructure that enables your magnet school to operate. Infrastructure costs can include data collection and evaluation, communications, marketing and recruitment, technology, and professional development. Projected cost escalations in this area might include the need to buy more iPads as the student body grows. Some of these costs may be covered by district funds; others you will need to cover at the school level.

Take a Look

• Tool 5: Determining the Full Cost of a Magnet Schools Assistance Program Project helps you develop fiscal estimates for your program. Building on Tool 4: Clarifying Which Magnet School Activities to Sustain, this tool can help you look beyond the U.S. Department of Education budget template when estimating fiscal needs for your school. This tool helps you analyze the start-up, ramp-up, and ongoing operating costs for each strategy and activity. Remember that your goal in completing this worksheet is to develop realistic numbers that represent the costs of the magnet strategies and activities you want to sustain. You can always revisit and revise these numbers at a later date.

Step 2: Chart Current ResourcesAfter estimating the total costs associated with sustaining the magnet school, take a look at the existing cash and in-kind resources and the time frame(s) when they will be available. Consider the following questions in conjunction with Tool 8:

• What are the current funding sources (both cash and in-kind)?

• How flexible are the resources?

o Are they restricted to specific activities?

o Can they be redirected to other purposes as needed?

• How durable are the resources?

o Over what time period will they be available?

o Will they be automatically renewed?

o Are any funding sources at risk of being cut or reduced?

• How robust is the magnet school’s overall funding mix?

o Is there a balance of public and private funding, short- and long-term support, restricted and flexible resources?


Take a Look

• Tool 6: Determining the Resources Available to Magnet Schools Assistance Program Grantees

This tool builds on the cost estimate conducted in Tool 7: Determining the Full Cost of a Magnet Schools Assistance Program Project by helping you take inventory of current and future resources and the time frame in which they will be available.

Step 3: Assess Resource GapsAfter estimating fiscal needs and cataloging current resources, your magnet school will be ready to assess the gaps between what you need and what you have. When conducting this analysis, be sure to differentiate among specific years of the financing plan for two reasons. First, costs may differ for each year of the plan, particularly if you are considering expanding the initiative. Second, different funding sources run out at different points in time. Therefore, schools will need to compare cost estimates and available resources at regular intervals.

For each year of the plan and for each major strategy of the initiative, determine the difference between how much is needed and how much the school currently has. Take information from completed tools in Tool 7 and Tool 8 to do your calculations on the tool in Tool 9. Your total will be the funding gap you need to make up or the surplus you have available.

Take a Look

• Tool 7: Assess the Resource Gaps in a Magnet Schools Assistance Program Project

This worksheet helps you determine the resource gaps between what is available and what is needed for each strategy and activity. You can structure the analysis by theme-based activity.

Step 4: Identify Financing StrategiesBased on the analysis of how much is needed, what your magnet school currently has, and where the funding gaps are, you can identify funding sources and financing strategies to meet the fiscal needs. An effective financing plan is diversified among short-term, long-term, public, and private funds. This section provides a process to assist in selecting the funding sources that are most appropriate for your magnet school.

Clarify What You Need and WhenReview the gap analysis to determine what resources are needed and over what period of time. Determine whether the fiscal needs are related to one-time startup costs, large capital investments, or ongoing operating costs. Differentiate between one-time fiscal needs (such as start-up costs) and ongoing needs.


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Resource Analysis

Current resources - estimate of costs =Gap or Surplus

Review the Current Mix of Funding SourcesBased on the inventory of current funding sources you completed in Tool 9, assess the funding mix to determine if the school is overly reliant on any one source of support. Questions to consider when evaluating the current mix of funding include these:

• Can the school make better use of existing resources?

• Is the school maximizing federal, state, and private revenue?

• Can the school build new partnerships?

• How can the school develop new dedicated resources?

Match Strategies and Appropriate Funding SourcesAs you review information on financing strategies and funding sources, you will want to consider a number of factors to determine which sources and strategies are most appropriate. Be sure to match short- or long-term funding with the appropriate strategy. For example, if your school plans to operate a dance program for the next 3 years, relying on a 6-month grant will not be effective.

Take a Look

• Tool 8: Magnet Schools Assistance Program Financing Strategies

This document serves as a guide to help you consider which financing strategies are most relevant to your magnet school. It presents examples of financing strategies that can be modified depending on local partnerships and core outcomes.

Next Steps

1. Complete Tool 5: Determining the Full Cost of a Magnet Schools Assistance Program Project.

2. Complete Tool 6: Determining the Resources Available to Magnet Schools Assistance Program Grantees.

3. Complete Tool 7: Assess the Resource Gaps in a Magnet Schools Assistance Program Project.

4. Review the resources in Tool 8: Magnet Schools Assistance Program Financing Strategies.


Section 4: Putting it all togetherThis section provides information to help you develop and write a sustainability plan. Sections 1 through 3 focused on the processes of thinking through key issues and developing agreement on a plan; this section focuses on effective implementation and communication of your plan through four steps:

1. Develop a workplan.

2. Write the sustainability plan.

3. Plan for dissemination and use.

4. Adopt the approved plan.

The Value of a Written Sustainability Plan

Throughout this toolkit, we have discussed the value of planning for sustainability. A written sustainability plan is useful for a variety of reasons:

• It incorporates all of the information generated in the planning process into a concise document.

• It provides a summary of actions and a sense of accomplishment.

• It guides internal management decisions and allocation of resources.

• It educates potential partners, funders, parents, and school leaders about the history, successes, and future plans of the magnet school.

Step 1: Develop a WorkplanA workplan takes the strategic priorities you identified earlier and defines who will implement them and when. Here, you will lay out specific benchmarks, tasks, responsibilities, and time frames that will help you move from planning to action.

When creating the workplan, consider the following priorities:

• Align the workplan with existing magnet school and/or district plans. These may include a school improvement or strategic plan, a school safety plan, or a development plan. Ensure that there are no conflicting deadlines, and that work is not duplicated unnecessarily.

• Establish a process for monitoring implementation of the workplan. For example, how often will programs review the workplan? Or, who will be responsible for monitoring progress?


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• Seek input from those who will actually complete workplan tasks. This will ensure that schools have buy-in from key stakeholders and that the plan is realistic.

• Use an appropriate and realistic time frame. Work with sustainability team members’ schedules, and with any approaching funding application deadlines, to find a time frame that is suitable for all parties.

Take a Look

• Tool 9: Workplan for Sustainability Planning

This tool helps MSAP schools develop a workplan for completing the tasks involved in sustainability planning.

Step 2: Write the Sustainability PlanIn addition to a workplan, it is critical that schools have a written sustainability plan that summarizes the planning they have completed in a clear and concise manner. Think of the sustainability plan as a “business plan” for the magnet school. A business plan attracts investments for new business ventures by presenting a compelling analysis of how and why the venture will be profitable. Likewise, magnet schools should offer potential funders a compelling analysis of how the school will succeed. As you move through this section and assemble the sustainability plan, follow the steps below:

1. Form a sustainability team to support the planning process. As discussed in Section 1, a sustainability team ensures that all the important stakeholders are a part of the sustainability planning process. They can also be instrumental in helping to edit and review your written sustainability plan.

2. Establish responsibility and deadlines. Begin by deciding who is responsible for writing the sustainability plan and establishing a firm deadline for completion. You will not want to lose momentum by having stakeholders wait months for a written plan. Several people can share the writing task, provided one person functions as the “editor” who will hold the team accountable for finishing sections and will assemble and smooth out the language in the final document.

3. Use work you have already done. Because the sustainability plan is a document that you will use to help generate support for the magnet school, it has to include basic information to familiarize potential investors with the magnet program, such as its history and progress to date. Use written information from the MSAP grant application, community needs


assessment, parent surveys, school feedback, annual performance reports, and other formative evaluations to help with completing this section. Use these data to make the plan real and meaningful to your key constituents. It will:

• clarify needs expressed by parents, teachers, students, and taxpayers;

• highlight success and progress toward key goals and outcomes;

• highlight gaps to be addressed in the coming years; and

• show the importance of the school by including comments from community members.

4. Tailor your plan to your needs. Develop a plan that speaks to stakeholders. The plan should offer enough information to provide guidance to readers, but remain manageable in length. The plan should be digestible, yet actionable. Before you begin writing, review Tool 10 to become familiar with all the sections and their content, then decide whether to combine or reframe sections in order to present the MSAP school most clearly and appropriately. The plan could take various forms:

• short written narrative;

• highly graphic action plan with short narrative descriptions; or

• PowerPoint presentation.

5. Begin with an outline. An outline is a road map to writing that makes the job easier and keeps the team focused on how sections are related and build on each other. An outline is meant to serve as a guide when writing the plan.

6. Review before finalizing. Choose reviewers to read and comment on the draft. Include individuals who participated in the planning processes relevant to each section of the plan, as well as individuals with specialized knowledge (e.g., accountants, lawyers) if there are any sections of the document that present technical information. Once the content is clear, have others who were not involved in developing the plan critique the whole document to be sure it is clear, compelling, and complete.


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Take a Look

• Tool 10: Sample Sustainability Plan Outline

The Sustainability Plan Outline provides highlights of the sustainability plan and includes descriptions of the sections, though the information should reflect the needs of your magnet school. While the headings should be tailored to the plan and purposes of the school, we recommend including the information listed below:

o History, Progress, and Future Plans: This section should make the case for the school by providing a general background and answering key questions about magnet schools.

o Achieving Goals—Strategic Considerations: This section should show how external conditions affect the magnet school, and how the magnet school goals can be accomplished under these conditions.

o Financing Plan: In this section, demonstrate assumptions about the school’s future funding needs, a plan for meeting the needs, and how the plan aligns with the sustainability goals.

o Action Plan and Timetable: This section should include a clear and convincing action plan for sustaining the magnet school. Indicate benchmarks for each strategy, and show who is accountable for the implementation of each.

o Conclusion: In this section, clearly state the anticipated outcomes for the program.

• Tool 11: Sample Sustainability Plan

This is an example of a completed plan for the fictional MetroCity Arts Magnet School. This sample should be used only as a tool to spark discussion among members of the sustainability team.

Step 3: Plan for Dissemination and UseOnce the written sustainability plan is complete, determine how you will use it. To receive the most benefit from the plan, include these uses on your list:


• Manage the magnet school.

• Maintain a focus on the vision and results.

• Monitor implementation of strategies and activities.

• Publicize and develop support for the project. Include language from the plan in marketing materials, and share the plan with potential supporters and champions, including the mayor, the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and School Board.

• Include language from the plan in funding proposals to help secure new funding.

Step 4: Adopt the PlanIt is important to officially adopt the final plan. Use the formal adoption process as an opportunity to recognize the work of everyone who participated in planning and to build momentum for your magnet school and publicize its work. You might host a celebration at the school, and invite students and parents along with all the partners and volunteers who helped you create the plan. This would be a great time for a practice run of the presentation you will use when talking to prospective funders and partners, and you might follow the presentation with a show of hands in favor of the plan—and some food to sustain everyone during the work still to come.

A sustainability plan is never final. It is intended to be a living document. Therefore, be sure to review and update the plan periodically, perhaps quarterly or annually. A new plan should be written once the current plan expires.

Next Steps

1. Use Tool 9: Workplan for Sustainability Planning to develop your sustainability plan.

2. Review Tool 10: Sample Sustainability Plan Outline.

3. Write your own sustainability plan.

4. Adopt and disseminate the sustainability plan.

5. Celebrate!


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Magnet Schools Assistance ProgramTechnical Assistance Center

8757 Georgia Avenue, Suite 460Silver Spring, MD 20910

(866) [email protected]

http://msapcenter.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.msapcenter.com

planning for sustainability toolkit

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