Guidelines for Cost Recovery for Community Use of Schools
Guidelines for Cost Recovery for Community Use of Schools
1) Implement proven tactics and policies that are used by peer educational organizations with successful community facility use programs:
- A single coordinator and point of contact for the organization communicates with principals and the community regarding facility use
- Community use groups are separated into categories to charged appropriately
- An events calendar is available on the website for community and your organization’s employees to see.
- A detailed facility use policy describes the conditions/terms of use.
- A request for use form is available online to request usage. That form, once approved and signed, becomes the contract for usage.
- A detailed fee table is available for users to estimate cost of usage.
2) Make facility use information easy to find. Have a tab for “Community” on your organization’s website homepage that will take the user to a “Facility Rental” page with:
- Point of contact to include:
- Name
- Department
- Title
- Phone number
- Email address
- Mailing address
- Description of the community use program
- Links to take community users to:
- Facility use policy
- Request for use form
- Rate sheet with group type categories
3) Management of Community Use is complex and requires an automated system. Implement a facility scheduling and invoicing software that automates the cost recovery function.
4) Make sure that key stakeholders (administration, principals, faculty/teachers, and organization staffs understand the importance of cost recovery to the organization-wide budget. Communication from your administrative leaders to endorse cost recovery helps achieve buy-in.
5) Define an approved automated fee escalation policy, and communicate the policy and fee changes to the public on your organization’s website.
