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Chino Valley Unified board approves switch to Trust policy service to simplify manual, cut costs
Summary
The board approved moving its policy manual from the Arizona School Boards Association service to the Arizona Risk Retention Trust’s policy service, citing simpler language, fewer policies and lower annual cost.
The Chino Valley Unified District Board voted June 16 to migrate its policy manual to the Arizona Risk Retention Trust’s policy service, district staff said, a change staff said will reduce complexity and annual cost.
District presenters described the Trust’s policies as written in plain language, reduced in number (about 200 policies versus more than 600 in the current manual), and hotlinkable into staff and student handbooks. Staff told the board the Trust’s service costs roughly $500 per year compared with about $10,000 per year paid to the Arizona School Boards Association.
"The trust policy services are $500 a year," a district staff member said during the discussion.
Why it matters: staff argued simpler, clearer policies lower liability and improve enforceability because employees, parents and board members are more likely to understand rules written in plain language. The board voted to begin a phased migration starting in September while maintaining the current contract through June 30 of next year.
Details and next steps: the transition plan calls for the district to migrate chapter by chapter, with administrators and interested board members able to review draft policy sections. Staff said legal review by the district attorney will continue for localized policies and that the board-approved leave policy revisions would be migrated and clarified under the Trust format.
The board’s motion to approve the change passed on a voice vote; staff will begin the staged migration and bring individual policy revisions back to the board for approval as needed.
