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Good news came to the school board this month in the form of a giant ceremonial check from Pleasanton Partnerships in Education (PPIE) Foundation.
“This donation is a true example of what partnerships can do,” said Bob Miller, president of the PPIE board, as he presented the school district with a bankable check for $551,000.
Of that gift, $80,000 came from the Fun Run for Education that PPIE sponsored earlier this month.
“Sometimes people forget how giving this community is,” said Superintendent Ahmadi. “The Pleasanton Unified School District has faced tremendous budget cuts for several years. Although we are grateful for a more stable state budget under the new funding model, the Local control Funding Formula at its full implementation in 2020-21 will still not provide adequate funding for education.”
“Restoring important programs cut in previous years during budget crisis, as well as the need to add new critical programs to support all students, will bring ongoing challenges,” she added.
“We are truly grateful for the support we have received from the community through the tremendous efforts by PPIE each year,” Ahmadi said. “In addition to supporting the Giving Fund through this year’s PPIE fundraising campaign, parents continue to support their schools through each school’s parent organizations.”
Ahmadi thanked Miller, and also Kelly French, PPIE vice-president, who organized the second annual Fun Run, which attracted 1,000 more participants this year and raised $22,000 more than the first run.
The superintendent also thanked Susan Hayes, the executive director of PPIE, for the fund-raisers which augmented the Giving fund to make PPIE’s full wish list a reality.
The PPIE donation will help in the following specific ways: At the elementary schools, class size for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten will be reduced to a ratio of 28 students to one teacher, something parents have been requesting; a Chromebook will be purchased for each of the 230 classrooms, “to support the district’s technology plan goal of having a 1:3 device-to-student ratio.”
Middle schools will divide $95,000 on a per-pupil basis, with bonus amounts of $1,500-$5,000 based on each school’s participation. Amador Valley and Foothill high schools will divide $68,500 on a per-pupil basis, with the same kinds of participation bonuses, and Village/Horizon alternative high schools will receive $5,000.
The four special needs pre-school classrooms will receive $500 each. In addition, the entire district will benefit by the hiring of an addition technology instructional coach ($90,000).
The amount above does not include the PPIE grants to students and teachers, which soon will be announced.
I’m so excited that kindergarten class sizes will be reduced by 2 students – great news! I wish it could be 25 to 1, but this is an improvement. Yeah!
Assuming 1200 students per year in K through 12,
$551,000 / 15,600 students = $35 per student for the year
I wonder what other communities accomplish…
Leave it to a PW blogger to find the grey cloud behind the silver lining. This is a great grassroots accomplishment deserving of nothing but appreciation. I can only recommend that Math Guy do something; do better. Your efforts will be greeted with appreciation from our great community.
THANK YOU PPIE!
I heard that San Ramon receives about $350/student donation. Not sure where I heard this so it might be incorrect, or old data.
The reason that San Ramon has always received more donations as the donations go directly to the school of the donator. People will donate more if they feel it will benefit their children. They are less likely to donate to the school district which is more abstract than the school and seems like an additional level of overheard. You will find that people will donate the most to their classroom, next will be the school, followed by the district, followed by the state. Our district administration wants control of the funds and feel they can do a better job that the schools. With that thinking, you could say that we should give the money to the state and the state will do a better job. NOT.
They should’ve donated to the PUSD as they’ll need it for up coming legal fees