The board members of the Saratoga Education Foundation, made up of parent volunteers, are tackling the class-size reduction program, fundraising to keep the program intact in the face of budget cuts. By June 30, the foundation hopes to have raised $950,000 to pay for class-size reduction, as well as other programs that are slated for elimination.

"Until now, we have been making enough, so that we are supplementing the district," said Shinku Sharma, foundation co-president. But now, merely "supplementing" is not enough, Sharma said—"These cuts are so severe." Instead, the community must step up.

Co-president Madeline Morrow said the foundation is targeting small-business owners and members of the community who do not have children in district schools. "The effort is trying to make contact with people who haven't heard the message," Morrow said.

At previous school district board meetings, teachers and residents alike pointed out that a declining quality in education would lead to a decrease in property values, affecting all residents.

"The parents have been donating to the schools for a long time," Morrow said, with the $1 million that the foundation has earmarked for next year coming from district families. "But people really wanted us to take this on."

The foundation has already granted the district $150,000 to hire back the teachers that would enable grades K-2 to stay at the ratio of 20 students per teacher. To bring the third grade down to 20:1 and grades four to eight to 27:1, however, the foundation needs another $625,000. In addition, the foundation hopes to help the district balance its budget by funding $317,000 for programs that will be slashed by the state.

Morrow said the added $150,000 would qualify the district for state funding to keep class sizes small. As a result, 10 teaching positions will be saved—as opposed to only two, if the class-size reduction program was not a factor.

At the June 10 school board meeting, the $150,000 grant held up the school district's 2003­04 budget approval process. The grant had come with a condition that the "school district doesn't have to go further into the reserves than it already has," Morrow said. While the district board was planning to maintain its state-mandated 3 percent reserves—$500,000—expenditures were going to use up the excess reserves.

"We have to spend a lot of it," said Ellen Tipton, chief business official for the district. Tipton pointed out that although the district could lose $267 per student in revenue, expenditures would increase by 6 percent to $8 million.

One teacher disagreed with the district's proposed plan. "You should only offer, you should only deliver, the programs that you can afford," she said. "If that's all the money you have, then that's all you buy."

Foundation members, on the other hand, said using up excess reserves was putting the district in a dangerous position financially, as well as acting only as a short-term solution. "Taking our reserves down to zero, you're just putting off the cuts," Morrow said. Morrow said the district will be forced to make budget cuts for 2004­05 also, but have no reserves left to make up the shortfall. Morrow added that parents also supported the foundation's position.

Although the board was reluctant to refuse a donation from the community, board member Cindy Ruby said, "Their [condition] ... that's the thing that makes me concerned."

"I would never look at my finances like we're looking at the budget," said board member Cathie Thermond, but she said the board didn't seem to have much of a choice.

One teacher, funded by the foundation, urged the district not to accept the donation's condition.

As a result, the school board put off approval of the budget until June 24, pending the foundation's decision.

In turn, the foundation reconsidered the contingency late last week, granting the $150,000 without restriction. "The SEF board strongly recommends that the school board and district will work in good faith to maintain the reserve funds at the highest possible level," said a statement released by the foundation. "We believe that the reserve is essential to safeguard against the state's uncertain financial situation."

In the meantime, foundation volunteers continue to fundraise. Morrow said there are tables in front of each school, handouts of information in the community and room parents who contact families individually. "It's not really an event, it's reaching out," Morrow said.

Fundraising specifically for class-size reductions ends June 30, "which is the date that the school district needs to submit the budget to the state," Sharma said.

The next board meeting, on June 24, starts at 6:30 p.m. in Redwood Middle School's library.