Saving time and money that can be used to improve students' school experience has never been easier. Switching from paper to an electronic, paperless, K-12 record management is on the rise and for good reason.

Paperless Benefits

The cost of physical document storage greatly outweighs that of electronic storage. In fact, it is estimated that signing up with a storage vendor costs on average, $6227 for the initial move, another $2260 in monthly admin fees, AND not to mention destruction or removal fees - which can add an additional $2484-$3099. That’s anywhere from 20 to 100 times more for K-12 record management costs than using an electronic storage vendor.

The extra time and capital saved by going paperless can then be put back into the school, either through professional growth, improving or updating school property and/or technology, or other education-related purposes—the possibilities are beneficial to the district and the students (it is estimated that for an increase of $1260 spent per student it would lead to a 7 percent increase in wages at age 40 and drop the likelihood of adult poverty by 3 percent).

Other Cost-Saving Benefits of Transitioning to Electronic Storage

• Easy Access – Authorized employees have immediate access to documents from any computer, which then can be forwarded or shared with an employee who needs access. In a system using physical file storage, a clerk must first locate the file (which may or may not be saved in the right file cabinet!) and then physically go and pick it up.

• Searchable Text – If you are looking for a very specific document or specific wording in a document, electronic files can lead you to where you need to be. This allows districts to create databases and grouping based on keywords, which can come in handy when dealing with regulations such as ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act).

• Reliable Backups – Physical and traditional (local file storage) leads to an overabundance of documents and nonlinear storage practices. With electronic based K-12 management of documents, you can reliably store and backup vital content that may otherwise be lost or damaged.

• Better Security and Document Control – With data breaches on the rise (breaches in the education sector were up over 100 percent in the first few months of 2017), security and trackability of documents K-12 record management is crucial. It is estimated that it costs organizations in the education sector $245 per record when there has been a breach of cybersecurity. Electronic storage can prevent this.

• Vendor Controlled Regulatory Compliance – Storing sensitive documents is regulated at the state and local level, meaning regulations can change on the fly and you are subject to meet the requirements. Through electronic media storage, the burden of keeping up with regulations falls on the vendor, saving districts on K-12 record management costs to upgrades.

• Positive impact on the environment – avoid using paper initially or switch over for a green solution to K-12 record management.

Use this simple calculator If you want to figure out how much paperless document storage can save your district on K-12 record management costs.