5) USE PRE-PAID SERVICES!

The Lancaster school board must choose free (or pre-paid) services, when available, rather than buying new additional service.

In particular, the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) offers free services, including general legal advice, to member boards. It is a waste of money and time to direct routine procedural questions to the lawyers on retainer. (It's better than guessing about legal matters -- and guessing wrong. But free good advice is cheaper than free BAD advice.) Similarly the Education Service Center in Richardson ("Region Ten") is taxpayer supported and offers many of the services now solicitied by bid to commercial agencies. It must become the policy and practice of the Lancaster board to exhaust use of free and already contracted support before seeking expensive new help.

Or I think so, anyway. What do you think?