By Torre Peña
Shattering previous fundraising records for its annual Phone-a-thon, the Saratoga Education Foundation received substantial support from Saratogans, who pledged $100,900 during the one-day event.
"It was a huge success," said SEF president Jill Van Hoesen.
On Feb. 2, 150 volunteers made calls throughout the day, asking people to help support the many educational programs SEF provides to all students in the district.
School board president Stephanie Petrossi said she was impressed by the amount pledged this year. When Petrossi was SEF president in 1990-91, $100,000 was the foundation's goal for the entire year. "Now they've done that in a day," she said. "There is just so much that the parent community here does."
The nonprofit organization has steadily grown since its inception in 1982. The Phone-a-thon's success catapults the foundation toward its goal of raising $375,000 this year. And SEF also hopes to add $25,000 to its endowment fund, currently at $50,000.
The endowment fund was created in 1994 as a long-term, stable source of funding for the district. About $5,000 to $6,000 pledged in the Phone-a-thon will go into the endowment fund at the request of donors, said Van Hoesen.
SEF money supports a multitude of programs that might otherwise be lost to state funding cutbacks for public schools. For the current school year, SEF is giving $319,000 for science, music and art programs, libraries, technology hardware and instruction, and grants to teachers and small-group instructors.
"Without SEF, a lot of the enrichment programs would not be available," Van Hoesen said.
Contributions from SEF directly benefit Argonaut, Foothill and Saratoga schools by providing money for full-time music, science and instructional media specialists. Art docents, library aides and a kindergarten science aide also provide a balanced education.
Minigrants of up to $500 go to innovative teachers willing to develop their own projects and immerse their students in a subject. And money for reading centers allows students to learn skills in smaller groups, said Louise Levy, SUSD's director of special projects.
"We feel we could not offer these quality programs without the help of SEF," Levy said. The music program would suffer tremendously and would have to rely on volunteer staffs, she added.
At Redwood Middle School, SEF is responsible for proving an up-to-date computer lab with 32 Power Macintosh computers. Along with the hardware comes a part-time media center technician. Funding also provides a full-time library media specialist for instructional media.
The SEF works with district teachers, parents and administrators to determine funding priorities.
"We work closely with the superintendent and the school board to determine what the needs of the schools are," Van Hoesen said.
SEF monitors the funded programs, continually getting feedback. The foundation aims for a proactive approach when considering funding priorities in an effort to anticipate future needs.
"We're not just funding things and letting them go," Van Hoesen said.
The success of fundraising drives like the Phone-a-thon allows SEF to keep programs that work in place while looking for ways to continually improve the quality of education in the district.
Levy said that SEF helps to provide a well-rounded education to students. "SEF is a part of what makes our schools special," she said.
In addition to the Phone-a-thon, SEF raises money through other events including a business partnership program, a spring jog-a-thon and the sale of grocery certificates. Since it was founded, SEF has donated more than $1.6 million to SUSD.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 26, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.