Education Budgets Are Tight; Foundations Help Where They Can -Latest twitter,facebook,video,reviews

Interactive whiteboards in Exeter School District classrooms. A reading intervention program in the Wilson School District. The field house at Fleetwood's athletic stadium.

All of these things, now vital to operations in Berks County districts, would not exist without the behind-the-scenes work of education foundations.

These foundations raise money for educational and extracurricular programs that school districts could not afford otherwise. They're often made up of business professionals, former educators, community leaders and parents.

And as the financial noose tightens on district budgets, these private foundations work to make sure their district, its students and teachers have the facilities and materials they need.

"Likely we'll see foundations shift their mission a bit as the tough budget situation continues," said Jan Cremer, executive director of the Wyomissing Area Education Foundation. "In these economic times, we want the money to stay in the district."

Adapting to change

Wyomissing has one of the oldest foundations, started in 1995. Initially, its focus was giving scholarships to high school seniors. But as less money was available for educational programs, the foundation realized it was essentially raising money for colleges, not the district.

While it still awards scholarships, the Wyomissing foundation now gives grants to teachers of up to $2,000 for programs the district can no longer fund.

Teacher grants are a large part of most education foundation missions. Teachers must apply to get the funding and lay out exactly how they'll use the money in the classroom.

"If there's something a teacher wants to try for the first time in their classroom, they'll approach us," said Ken Smith, a member of the Exeter Community Education Foundation and a township supervisor. "We usually provide funding for unique things that wouldn't make the regular budget cut."

Dr. Beverly Martin, Exeter's superintendent, said while the foundation has raised a lot of money and helped out the district significantly, she's worried about the lack of help.

"It's a volunteer organization, so we need all the support we can get," Martin said.

Much of the work is done solely by the foundation's board of directors along with a few volunteers. For some foundations, the hardest part is getting word out that they exist.

The Wilson Education Foundation holds an awareness night at a Reading Phillies game every year and is trying its best to let parents and staff know the good it can do.

Wilson's foundation started a holiday gift program, where instead of giving a teacher a gift, parents can donate to the classroom via the foundation.

"We're trying to add annual development campaigns, like colleges do," said Tracy Caputo Markle, executive director. "But it's not something public school districts have had to do in the past, so there's not a rich history of examples to draw from. It's something we're looking into."

Twin Valley's foundation is working hard to make strong connections with its alumni for both fundraising efforts and to keep them updated on what's going on in the district. The foundation recently hosted Raiderfest, where alumni could look through old memorabilia and see what's new at Twin Valley.

The foundation also sponsored a writing specialist to give a workshop to teachers on a recent in-service day.

"The district can't fund something like that these days," said Dr. Robert Pleis, Twin Valley superintendent. "So the foundation steps forward and helps us out."

Fundraising is challenge

As with most nonprofit organizations, the biggest struggle for education foundations is fundraising.

Many rely on donations from parents, alumni and former employees. Others try to attract members of the community and businesses, with the lure of tax-deductible donations. Some, like Conrad Weiser's, fund programs that help out more than just its district's students.

The Conrad Weiser Education Foundation not only gives out teacher grants and student scholarships, but also runs a GED prep program.

"It's something that's totally outside of the school that's been very successful," said Philip Bohne, foundation board president. "But it's all contingent on funding, and this is a tough environment to raise money."

Source: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=341133