School Accountability Report Card (SARC)

In Plain Language: The SARC gives families and the public a standardized annual view of each school. It combines state-provided and locally supplied information about students, outcomes, staffing, learning conditions, safety, facilities, curriculum, expenditures, and related measures. Although CDE prepopulates many fields in its electronic application, the school or LEA remains responsible for completing the report, validating its data, making it understandable and accessible, notifying families, publishing it, and submitting it to CDE.

Why the SARC exists

The report is intended to help parents and community members understand and compare schools using a common set of information. It is a public accountability output, not merely a state data submission or an internal school-improvement document.

Why the SARC requires local work

Required tables draw from different school years, fiscal years, systems, and offices. Some information is supplied by CDE; other elements exist only locally. Every value and narrative must be reconciled to the correct definition and reporting period before publication.

What a SARC generally covers

Content area	Examples of information	Likely local partners
School profile and demographics	School description, grade span, enrollment, student groups, mission, and locally meaningful context.	School administration, communications, enrollment, data services
Student outcomes	Assessment, academic performance, graduation or completion, college and career preparation, and other required outcome measures.	Assessment, curriculum, counseling, CALPADS, accountability
Engagement and climate	Attendance, chronic absenteeism, suspension, school climate, safety, and related indicators.	Student services, school administration, safety, attendance, data services
Conditions of learning	Textbook and instructional-material sufficiency, facilities condition, course access, and instructional programs.	Curriculum, facilities, business services, school administration
Teachers and staff	Assignments, credentials, vacancies, misassignments, class size, staffing, and professional information.	Human resources, credential analysts, curriculum, CALPADS
School safety	Required descriptions of safety planning and the status or key elements of the school’s safety plan.	School administration, safety, student services, facilities
Fiscal and expenditure information	Per-pupil expenditures, teacher salaries, services, and other required fiscal comparisons.	Fiscal services, payroll, human resources, accountability
Local narrative	Principal message, school accomplishments, programs, supports, and explanations that help readers interpret the required data.	Principal, school team, communications, program leaders

The annual SARC production cycle

Establish scopeConfirm the school inventory and reporting responsibility. Reconcile active, newly opened, reorganized, closing, closed, charter, and nonpublic nonsectarian school conditions against current CDE guidance.
Obtain current materialsUse the correct reporting-year template and definitions. Preserve the CDE template version, data-element definitions, data layout, downloadable files, application instructions, and local production calendar.
Assign ownershipMap every table and narrative to a responsible office. Identify the system of record, reporting period, reviewer, source evidence, and escalation route.
Reconcile supplied dataReview CDE-prepopulated and downloadable information. Compare it with certified source submissions, local extracts, public releases, and applicable noneditable fields.
Complete local elementsGather information CDE does not maintain. Apply the exact definition and year specified for each locally populated table or narrative.
Review the complete reportConduct data, program, fiscal, accessibility, and communication review. Resolve inconsistencies across tables, narratives, schools, and other public reports.
Authorize and publishComplete the locally required review or governing process. Publish the current SARC, provide required family notice and paper-copy access, and confirm that the public link reaches the report directly.
Submit and preserveSubmit through the current CDE process by February 1. Retain the final artifact, submission confirmation, publication URL, notices, source records, approvals, and correction history.

Minimum data controls

Every school is matched to the correct CDS code, name, type, grade span, status, and reporting year.
Each table uses the reporting period specified in the current template rather than a single assumed year.
CDE-provided values are reconciled to their source and local corrections are supported by evidence.
Locally supplied values have a named owner, definition, system of record, extraction date, and reviewer.
Student counts and rates are checked for denominators, suppression, subgroup definitions, and unexpected differences.
Teacher, assignment, vacancy, and misassignment information is reviewed with human resources, curriculum, CALPADS, and credentialing staff.
Fiscal values are reconciled with the applicable accounting period and independently reviewed.
Narratives explain the data without contradicting required tables, overstating outcomes, or exposing protected information.
Online and paper versions identify the same reporting year and contain the same approved information.
The final URL, family notice, CDE submission, and archived evidence are independently confirmed.

Publication and access responsibilities

Responsibility	Operational control
Publish annually	Make the current report publicly available by the annual deadline and clearly distinguish it from prior-year archives.
Notify parents	Tell families that the SARC is available and explain how it can be obtained online and in paper form.
Provide paper copies	Maintain a dependable process for providing a hard copy upon request.
Support meaningful access	Review readability, language access, document accessibility, link clarity, and whether families can reach the report without unnecessary barriers.
Submit to CDE	Use the current SARC Web Application process to submit the report or an active direct URL, as applicable.
Correct responsibly	Preserve the original source, reason, authorization, date, revised artifact, public replacement, and resubmission evidence for material corrections.

How the SARC relates to other outputs

LCAP: describes LEA goals, actions, services, expenditures, measures, and improvement strategy; the SARC reports standardized information about an individual school.
SPSA: documents school-level needs, goals, strategies, expenditures, implementation, and evaluation; the SARC is the school’s annual public accountability report.
California School Dashboard: publishes state and locally reported indicators used for accountability and continuous improvement; some measures overlap with SARC and planning work.
CALPADS and other source systems: provide certified or operational data that flow into accountability outputs; correcting the display alone does not necessarily correct the upstream record.
Comprehensive School Safety Plan: is a separate operational plan with its own development and review requirements; the SARC reports required safety-plan information but does not replace the plan.

Official resources

Source review completed September 6, 2026. Verify the current reporting-year SARC template, data-element definitions, data layout, school-status rules, CDE-supplied files, editable and noneditable fields, parent-notification requirements, language and accessibility obligations, local authorization process, public URL, paper-copy process, and CDE submission instructions before acting. This operational introduction does not replace current official guidance or legal advice.