Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the difference between the La Entrada and Las Lomitas PTAs and The Las Lomitas Education Foundation (The Foundation)?
- The PTAs (Parent-Teacher Association) at both schools provides enrichment programs for students, opportunities for parent and community participation in all areas of school life, advocacy for children and parent education. Each school has a separate PTA‚ each with its own annually elected leadership. Funds are generally raised through annual membership drives at the beginning of each school year and site-specific fundraisers. Parents can volunteer in one or more of the many PTA programs at each school, serve on a PTA committee, or take on a PTA leadership position.
- The Foundation is a non-profit, parent volunteer organization which raises money from our community to enrich our children’s educational experience to a level beyond which public funding provides. The Foundation donated $1.4 million to the District in the 2008-09 school year through five major fundraising programs:
- Annual Giving Campaign
- Spring Auction Event
- Business Partners Group
- eScrip Program
- Fund-A-Need Program
Parents can volunteer to participate as Foundation Ambassadors, work with the Spring Auction Event committee, serve on the Foundation Board, or lead the Foundation on its Executive Board.
2. How will our funds be invested? What impact have donations to the Foundation made on our children’s education?
This past school year, over 82% of the District’s parents, and scores of community members and grandparents, donated to the Las Lomitas Education Foundation. As a result of this extraordinary generosity, the Foundation helped the District maintain its educational excellence by investing in the following areas:
- Small Class Sizes:Foundation donations helped fund 8 full-time teachers and 1 half-time teacher resulting in smaller average class sizes in every grade level.
- On average, each class has four fewer students resulting in more individualized attention to our children.
- At Las Lomitas, Foundation support has historically kept the class size at 20 students or below.
- At La Entrada, the average class size is at 24 students (rather than the state average of 27 students) due to the yearly Foundation donation.
- Enhanced Curriculum and Classroom Resources: With support from The Foundation, the following classes, programs, and faculty that have been added to both schools:
- Las Lomitas: Music & dance program, Literacy Collaborative, Reading Recovery for Kindergartners, math aides, and the specialized PE program with two PE teachers that work with our children instead of having regular classroom teacher run a PE program.
- La Entrada: Three foreign languages for three years, visual and performing arts, leadership, media, physical education, and geometry for advanced math students.
- Both Schools: Technology aides / multimedia education, partial funding for counselors.
- Fund-A-Need: The Foundation has donated funds for books, teaching materials and classroom supplies. In the 2009-2010 school year, the focus was on supporting technology in the classroom, including SmartBoards and laptop computers.
Your donations through The Foundation are a substantial factor in making the Las Lomitas Elementary School District and our schools such a wonderful place for our kids to learn. Without your help, smaller class sizes and the key programs described above would be at risk.
3. I pay $15,000 in property tax every year. Isn’t this enough?
- Only 21 cents of every property tax dollar goes to the Las Lomitas Elementary School District (Source: County Controller’s Office, May 2009). If this 21% of local property tax revenue were the District’s only revenue, we would have only $10,000 in funding per District student. It costs 50% more than that – $15,000 – to educate a child.
- Property taxes cover the basic, state-mandated requirements and fall far below our community’s expectations of educational excellence.
- The steady and predictable increases in property tax revenues over the last decade have ceased and could decline while District enrollment is increasing. This results in lower per pupil finding from state and local sources.
4. Why does the Foundation ask for an average of $2,000 per child? Why should I donate when I couldn’t possibly meet that goal?
- To maintain the tradition of educational excellence that parents and the community have grown to expect, The Foundation hopes to raise an average of $2,000 per student.
- Some families can and do contribute more. For other families, this amount is higher than they can afford. The Foundation asks that each family contribute an amount that is meaningful and significant for them.
- The Foundation hopes that all families contribute whatever they can since it takes a broad-based effort to support a community resource like our public schools.
- Many of the donors who make large gifts are happy to do so knowing that other families may not be able to participate at the levels they would like. However, having broad community support is important also as a signal to large donors: they are making a very valuable contribution to an effort that is viewed as extremely important by the whole community – everyone is on board and everyone contributes what they can.
5. How does The Foundation impact the School District’s budget?
- The total District budget is approximately $17 million.
- In 2008-2009, the Foundation has contributed just over $1.4 million – approximately 8.2% of the budget.
6. How do I know what and when to contribute? I’d like to give to The Foundation, the Spring Auction and to the PTA?
- The Foundation’s Annual Giving Campaign is conducted throughout the school year with heavy emphasis from October to March. This fundraising campaign solicits purely philanthropic gifts of cash (via checks or credit card donations), or securities gifts from the community.
- The Spring Auction Event is another of The Foundation’s four fundraising programs – This fun and accessible spring event raises money through the purchase of live and silent auction items and a specifically identified annual Fund-A-Need item. We are grateful for those who donate auction items, as well as for those who bid on items. It takes both to make the Spring Auction successful. We are proud that we have developed an event that is cost effective and enjoyable (especially when compared to neighboring schools and Districts). The Spring Auction is an important community-building event.
- Both PTAs raise money through membership fees in support of classroom and social activities at each campus and are separate entities. Each PTA board decides how to spend the money raised each fall in their membership drive.
7. Does The Foundation have any influence on District issues such as staff hiring or allocation of money for specific needs (e.g. special education or accelerated learning programs, etc.)?
A Joint Committee on Priorities (JCOP) develops principles and recommendations pertaining to the allocation of funds raised each year by the Foundation. Pending endorsement by the Foundation Board, the recommendations are submitted to the District’s Governing Board for approval. JCOP committee members include: The Foundation President and Vice President, Two Ex-Officio Foundation Board Members from the District’s Governing Board and the District Superintendent.
The JCOP has recommended allocation of the annual gift to offset District costs in two main areas: quality staff for small class sizes and enhanced curriculum.
8. How efficiently is The Foundation being run? How much of my money goes directly to the student population and how does this compare to other non- profits?
- In 2008-09 the Foundation overall expense ratio was 8%. Excluding the Spring Auction Event, the administrative expense ratio was 4%.
- Nationally, the median amount spent on administrative costs for non-profits was about 10.3%. Median operating expenses for local charities were 12% of revenues.
- Expenses for the 2008/09 Spring Auction Event ran at about 24% of revenues.
9. My friends in Palo Alto don’t have to contribute to a foundation – their public education is free!
- The Palo Alto Unified School District also has a foundation, as do most (if not all) of the school districts in the Bay Area.
- Menlo-Atherton, Woodside and Portola Valley are similar districts to ours, and their foundations play a large role in funding and improving their schools. /li>
- Our Foundation President and Vice President meet several times a year informally with neighboring foundations to share ideas.
10. How can I donate?
Remit forms are available in our annual report and online at www.llef.org.
Online payments can be made through PayPal at www.llef.org.
Our mailing address is : Las Lomitas Education Foundation, P.O. Box 7282, Menlo Park, CA 94026
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