The Park City Education Foundation had another record-breaking year.
For the second year in a row, the foundation topped the $1 million mark in fundraising during the 2013-2014 school year, finishing at around $1.3 million, said Jen Billow, PCEF events and marketing manager.
That’s the most the non-profit foundation has ever raised in one year.
“When you think about a million, you’re making a huge impact,” Billow said. “Almost every kid is impacted by one of our programs — or usually more. So that’s really exciting and the parents realize that. It’s not taxes that might go somewhere else — you put the dollar in, and you get the dollar right back.”
Billow said the foundation is able to raise so much because parents in the community are education-minded and want to make a direct impact on the schooling of their students.
“Parents here want the best for their students,” Billow said. “It’s one of the reasons people move to Park City — there’s this great public education system. But they realize that not all the programs they want their children to have access to can be funded through the regular budget.”
Billow said the money is dispersed throughout the school year in the form of grants. The foundation has already donated nearly $500,000 this year in school site and district grants. School site grants fund programs such as the annual Author-in-Residence program that brings published authors to speak to Park City High School students. District grants have been used for such things as after-school programs and science fairs.
“(District grants) tend to cover a much bigger, broader spectrum of students and schools,” Billow said. “So if you look at the after-school program at all four elementary schools, the district asks us for funding to help cover the costs of that.”
Next up will be teacher grants, which individual teachers throughout the district can request. Those are set to be awarded in December.
“We really try to focus on innovative ideas,” she said, adding that the district’s one-to-one initiative, which supplies students with personal laptops, stemmed from a teacher grant. “It doesn’t fund supplies, for instance. But teachers can try things and not be afraid if it fails — they don’t have to spend taxpayer dollars.”
District Superintendent Ember Conley said PCEF’s contributions are crucial to Park City schools.
“We have the strongest foundation in the state and the grants provide opportunities for our staff members to provide an excellent and innovative education to our students,” Conley said in an e-mail.