Education foundations a vital resource to districts

By Christina Hernandez, Managing Editor
How will local school officials across the state be able to provide a quality education with already cut-to-the-bone spending plans and a new 2 percent property tax cap?
Perhaps, district leaders could find some solace in their financial woes by reaching out to organizations dedicated to bringing innovative learning to schools: education foundations.
With the new capped tax levy, limited aid and state education and governmental leaders making a costly error on a federal funding application, Deborah Prinz, executive director of ACHIEVE Foundation of South Orange and Maplewood, said, “I think that our role becomes more critical.”
Education foundation leaders say they are stepping up to the plate to fund educational programs that their strapped districts can’t afford, ensuring that quality enrichment stays strong in their schools regardless of drastic budget cuts.
“There seems to be a renewed commitment with education foundations, which are even more important than ever,” said Marcia Smith Fleres, executive director of New Jersey Education Foundation Partnership. “A lot of a community is based on the success of its public schools. We don’t fully know the extent of the budget cuts until next school year. It could only get worse.”
In March, Gov. Chris Christie cut about $820 million in aid to districts across the state, forcing local school leaders to implement teacher layoffs and hiring and pay freezes, as well as close schools.
The South Orange-Maplewood school district received a little more than $1.2 million in state aid for this school year, a $5.3 million drop from the 2009-2010 school year, according to state Department of Education reports.
South Orange-Maplewood school officials calculated a zero-percent salary increase for all employees, which is still pending approval by the teachers union, when formulating the $108.6 million spending plan for 2010-2011, a difference of $3.6 million from the previous budget.
“We are tremendously appreciative of the opportunities that the foundation provides for students in our district,” Mark Gleason, president of South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education, said. “But we are not budgeting with that in mind. We are not intentionally saying, ‘We got to count on the foundation.’ ”
Core principles
And that’s not the foundation mission. Education foundations are dedicated to funding programs and projects beyond what the curriculum and other initiatives offer, such as artist visits, guest speakers, outreach programs for families, tutoring and teacher grants, Fleres said. She added that foundations do not fund teacher salaries or materials that are “already paid for by the budget.”
However, she said foundations could purchase materials for a school district if there is a need or if it couldn’t be supported by the spending plan.
“The expenses we want to cover are for innovative projects, to address the achievement gap and to enhance or augment educational programs for students,” said Prinz.
In other cases, Fleres said foundations could also support facility projects or educational field trips.
“We rely on outside organizations to help us with capital projects,” Gleason said, adding that an outside group funded the installation of a turf field, track and lighting at Underhill Field at Columbia High School.
ACHIEVE Foundation recently embarked on a capital campaign to help the district renovate the Columbia High School auditorium, which should cost about $1 million to $2 million and includes new seating, house and stage lighting, sound equipment, flooring and air conditioning. So far, the foundation has realized $50,000 through a fundraising campaign called A Night on the Towns.
But many of the funds received from such initiatives, Prinz said, mostly support teacher grants in the South Orange-Maplewood district.
She said ACHIEVE distributed about $47,000 to more than 75 teachers to launch 53 projects in the 2009-2010 school year, and plans to distribute roughly the same amount this school year.
The grant money is “best used for teachers to try new things out,” she said. For example, in the 2009-2010 school year, teacher grants provided biotechnology equipment in science classes at Columbia High, a vegetable and flower garden for kindergartners at South Mountain and iPods for Spanish learners.
“This is new ground for us in New Jersey,” said Fleres. “People are very happy with the teacher grants.”
To become a candidate for an ACHIEVE grant, teachers are required to apply and submit a proposal that must meet certain criteria, such as increased student achievement or highlighting new teaching strategies.
If a teacher isn’t given a grant for their respective program or if the pot of money is emptied, ACHIEVE will distribute a list of the unfunded projects in December or January to the public, in hopes of receiving the funding. Prinz said this is called direct grant funding.
Donor appreciation
Although ACHIEVE’s list of donors totals about 3,000 people, Prinz said she wished local business owners contributed more by sponsoring a grant.
“I wish we could have that type of support,” she said, adding that local merchants do support the foundation by placing advertisements in event programs or posting announcement fliers on their storefronts. “I am always hoping to get banks, but so far it has been limited.”
However, Prinz said residents have always had an “enthusiasm” to support schools because they are passionate about the quality of education offered to community children. She said community members like supporting the positive initiatives in the district.
“People really believe in this, you know, we are local” she said. “I think people feel that when they make a donation to a local organization it is a benefit — that it comes back to them.”
When asked if there was a decrease in resident donations in recent years, Prinz said, “We haven’t seen a decline. We definitely, if anything, have seen growth in donations. If we didn’t have the economic downturn, we would see more of a growth.”
Getting started
Foundation memberships across the state have increased, and new foundations in the state have sprouted, foundation leaders say.
To form an education foundation is easy: The first thing an individual needs is community support, or “outreach to let them know we are here,” Fleres said.
Next, they should organize a steering committee or board of directors to recruit members, seek funding and publicize fundraisers. Then, they should apply to the state and the Internal Revenue Service to be designated an official nonprofit.
“We have revived and started a couple in the state, such as Hillsdale and Manalapan,” Fleres said, adding that there are 250 to 350 education foundations in New Jersey.
Private nonprofits, such as The New Jersey Education Foundation Partnership, help “build or strengthen” local education foundations through education, training, collaboration and advocacy, Fleres said. The partnership, which was founded in 2007, has about 65 local education foundations in New Jersey that pay $125 membership fee to receive help on “how to build a donor base, assemble a Board of Directors and to improve on grant writing,” she said.
“We run a professional organization on a shoestring,” she said, adding that the partnership operates on a $45,000 annual budget to cover program and administrative expenses. “Everything we must do is cost-efficient.”
Same game, different name
ACHIEVE, formerly the South Orange-Maplewood Education Foundation (SOMEF), was established by residents in the late ‘80s. However, due to a decline in volunteers the foundation was doormat, Prinz said, until it was revived in 1999 — two years after the popular ACHIEVE Volunteer Tutor Program began.
The free eight-week program features 200 volunteer teens, adults and college students trained by district teachers to give extra educational training to about 300 children in kindergarten through grade 12. Prinz said the foundation changed its name two months ago to ACHIEVE Foundation to connect the tutoring with SOMEF, which supports the program with roughly $20,000 to cover annual operating and administrative expenses. The district also contirbutes $40 per hour for teachers to train the tutors.
Prinz said the foundation operates on a $140,000 annual budget.
“More than 85 percent of expenses go to programs,” she said, adding that there are two paid employees in the ACHIEVE Foundation and Volunteer Tutor Program. “There is a small amount of money that goes toward administrative costs.”
Prinz said that the ACHIEVE Foundation has 100 to 200 members that participate on committees, such as marketing and fundraising, or help out at events, and 25 people on the Board of Trustees. One of their duties is to review grant proposals. All individuals are volunteers.
“We get new volunteers every year,” she said, adding that five new trustees joined this year. “It’s absolutely outstanding the amount of time people give to the organization. This is really as much work as a part-time job.”
Prinz said the foundation hosts recruitment/fundraiser events to spread the word. One popular event is The Night of 100 Dinners where community members have a dinner party, invite friends and charge $50 or more per person.
“We always need to tell people about the organization,” she said.
As a professional and parent whose children are a product of the South Orange-Maplewood schools, Prinz said being involved with the foundation and the tutoring program has been “gratifying.”
“From a career standpoint, I have enjoyed it and learned so much professionally and personally,” she said.