Have you noticed the new banners outside of each of the schools? Check it out when you get a chance. We will be updating these as our donations increase.

When: September 18, 2010

What: A day for our WHOLE community to come together to raise money for Scotts Valley public schools.

How to raise money: Have garage sales, bake sales and boost businesses so they can donate a percentage of their day’s proceeds.

How to help:

1. Have a garage sale and donate some or all of the money to the schools.
2. Donate some of your household items to someone else who would have a garage sale for the school.
3. Be a neighborhood coordinator for garage sales and bake sales
4. If you have a business, consider donating a percentage of your proceeds on for September 18th.
5. Join the Business Partnership Program and get a great value on advertising the all four schools phone directories.
6. Join our committee to make calls and visits to businesses over the summer to get them on board with our community day.
7. Encourage friends and families to donate to the Dollar a Day campaign that day. Remind them to have their company match their donation.
8. Go to www.svef.net and fill in the sign up form for Community Day. Or email the following information to info@svef.net:

a. Name
b. Address
c. Phone number
d. Email address
e. Job or donation you would like to do

Please contact Gina Johnson at ginatjohnson@sbcglobal.net or 334-1640 to help or for more information.

Scotts Valley Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit fundraising organization that raises money for Scotts Valley Public Schools.

Who we are

Our board is made up of 17 – 19 members. We have parents of our students, community members, teachers, principals, and administration from within our school district.

Our executives

We’re always looking for more help, and we have some openings available on our current board for next year. The board consists of the following positions: President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Marketing Coordinator, Volunteer Coordinator, and Directors.

How we raise our money

We host key fundraising events such as the Mt. Charlie Challenge, Ice Cream Social, Christmas Tree Lot, and Letter Campaign. We also are often a part of other organizations events. For example, the Rotary had Oktoberfest and contributed to SVEF. Kiwanis held Music in the Park in combination with SVEF. San Augustin shared their donations from the Angels Auction with SVEF. The Tutoring Club and Elite Martial Arts donate member initiation fees to SVEF when mentioning us.

What we do with the money

We keep a reserve of cash for operating expenses.  We roll a percentage of our annual income into our Endowment Fund that was created in 2009. The balance we can distribute to Scotts Valley Unified School District to save a program of our choosing.

How we decide what to fund

Every spring we research and analyze what is needed to help the schools. We get recommendations from the principals and we discuss as a board to make our decisions. We traditionally have not funded salaries directly. We have funded saving the Music Program, Libraries, Technology, and the Dollar-a-Day Program. We try to contribute to all four schools in our district evenly.

We occasionally have a donation that is given for a particular school and we just pass it through. As an example, for a few years The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz had a client that wanted to donate a fairly large sum anonymously to Brook Knoll Elementary School and SVMS. There was a few stipulations and we had to handle special reporting on it. For SVEF it was a pass through. We gained community awareness and were able to handle the donations as a non-profit entity.

Going forward

We will continue to have our regular fundraisers. We will handle the Dollar A Day program for our district. Our district needs to raise $950,000 for the general funding for year 2011/12 in order to stay where we will be for year 2010/11. We need to do this through a Dollar A Day campaign in conjunction with the SVUSD moving forward on a Parcel Tax.

To get involved

We are have our next SVEF Meeting on April 15th and there is a collective group of parents, teachers, board members and administration personnel coming up with the plan on what steps to implement for Dollar a Day. Email Charlotte if you would like to be involved in the campaign.

For Parcel Tax campaign you can contact Michael Shulman, to get involved.

Donate now to Scotts Valley Educational Foundation via mail or use the donate button on any page on this website. You may also do a recurring payment through our website through our Help Us page.

Please help our cause by donating now.

Dear Parents and Families of Scotts Valley Students,

I am sure it has escaped no one’s attention that this is by far the worst budget year in California for many, many years. As the state continues to flounder through this terrible recession, all public agencies are being severely affected. Our school district is no exception.

Here is the picture in summary. Over the past few years, because of budget cuts and declining enrollment, our district has moved from an annual budget of about $19 million to a projected budget for 2010-11 of approximately $16.4 million. We have cut positions, personnel and programs. Class sizes continue to increase. We expect at least two more years, possibly three, of continued budget shortfalls before the state economy recovers and our funding begins to catch back up to former levels. Experts predict that it will be as late as 2013 or 2014 before we will return to the funding levels we had in 2007, while costs will continue to rise.

We are currently developing the budget for 2010-11, which must be passed no later than June 30 and which must be fiscally solvent three years out. To account for funding cuts in 2010-11 and beyond, we will be increasing class sizes K-3 from 25 to 29 students. Although teaching positions will be lost, several elementary teachers will be retiring, leaving only a .5 teacher without a secure position at this time. At the high school, we have delivered potential layoff notices to parts of 8 teachers, ranging from 20% to 60% of their teaching schedules, for a total of up to 3.2 teaching positions. These and other lesser cuts combined with tapping into district carryovers will be sufficient to get us through the 2010-11 school year.

It is the following year, 2011-12, that we will need to make drastic cuts or we will fall off the fiscal cliff to the tune of $1.9 million the following year. To avoid cutting $1.9 million, it makes sense to cut half that amount in 2011; that $950,000 cut would continue into 2012 for a savings of $1.9 million over two years.

We are grateful for the many parents have come forward wanting to help.I have been working with staff to determine our options; the district has a major problem requiring thoughtful and well planned attempts at resolution. In our discussions, we have involved our Site Leaders Collaborative, a group composed of the leaders of our four parent clubs, four site councils, and our Educational Foundation; they have been instrumental in shaping our planning efforts.

This is our current thinking on what would be most effective:

The remainder of this year: Continue with the usual fundraisers for the 2010-11 school year. At the sites, these funds usually support such things as athletics at the middle and high schools, art and music programs at the elementary schools, various classroom support personnel, help with supplies and professional development, and donations to teachers’ and principals’ discretionary accounts. It will be important and helpful to continue to fill these needs at the sites in the usual ways the parent groups have in the past.

To help lessen the effects of the $1.9 potential shortfall the third year out:

Join with the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation to begin filling a “piggy bank” to help defray the drastic cuts that will need to come in 2011-12. The Ed Foundation has offered to be the repository of any additional fundraisers, donations, “Dollar a Day” efforts and the like. This money will be used in 2011-12 and 2012-13 to prevent cuts beyond what we can currently imagine. This is not an easy concept for some people to accept. The natural tendency would be to earn money to be used immediately; in normal times, that would work. However, the greater need is to begin storing up a reserve to lessen the cuts that will need to be made in future years.

The board is investigating whether the community would support a parcel tax. Currently, passage of a parcel tax requires a 2/3 vote of the electorate. We understand that an Initiative heading for the November 2010 ballot, if passed, would allow a parcel tax to be passed by a 55% vote. A parcel tax measure, taken to the voters in Spring 2011, would provide funds for the 2011-12 school year and for a few years into the future. This, too, would lessen or possibly eliminate the cuts that would otherwise need to be made.

We wish to thank all of you who have stepped forward with ideas for solving the problem. We will need support in several ways including “people power” and funds over a sustained period of time. So that parents and community members do not get “tapped out” by a variety of donation requests, we are looking toward one united district/ community effort to make the biggest difference for our students.

Our school board members have been out in the community, talking with people in coffee shops and their homes. If you would like board members to speak with you and your friends and neighbors, please contact board president Michael Shulman at ms.ks@comcast.net to arrange a time and place. The board will also be discussing the budget, community involvement, and the convening of a committee to work on a possible parcel tax. We are gathering information and the community’s best thinking to provide a district-wide solution to a serious problem for our schools.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long letter. It is a very complex issue. We all appreciate your engagement and support of our efforts on behalf of our students.

Sincerely,
Susan Silver, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Below is a list of the levels of sponsorship:

Gold Sponsor…$1,000

• Larger Logo on Bike Ride Shirts
• 100 Free Raffle Tickets
• Logo on All Materials
• plus Bonus 20 Tickets
• Press Release Listings
• 2 Bike Ride Shirts
• Promotion of Your Business at Every Opportunity

Silver Sponsor…$500

• Logo on Bike Ride Shirts
• 50 Raffle Tickets
• Press Release Mention
• Bike Ride Shirt
• plus Bonus 10 Tickets

Bronze Sponsor…$250

• Name on Ride Shirt
• Bike Ride Shirt
• 25 Raffle Ticket
• plus  Bonus 5 Tickets

Checks payable to:
Scotts Valley Educational Foundation
(501(c)(3) tax-exempt status number 77-0006718)

Please contact Charlotte with any questions, or interest that you have, at 831-334-7279.

Elite Martial Arts is continuing to raise funds for us, by donating the initial fees when your student signs up. You write your initial fee check directly to SVEF. Please see the Elite Martial Arts posting, for more information.

Yogizmo is starting up in April, they will donate 10% of their proceeds from all five Wednesdays. Please stop by and check out their menu.

The Mtn. Charlie Challenge Bike Ride is Saturday, April 26th. Sign up as a rider or support a rider!

The Ice Cream Social is Sunday, May 18th. You can sign up to have a booth, bake a cake, or volunteer to work this fun community event.

Please join us in one or many of these methods to support SVEF.

This grant was given to support educational programs and activities at Brook Knoll School and Scotts Valley Middle School ($10,000.00 each).

This will be a tremendous help to these schools.

Thank you Bright Horizon Fund!

Mint will be hosting a grand opening celebration Nov 27 – Dec 1. Kelly Gladder and Phyllis Harbert are offering Scotts Valley Educational Foundation 10% of all proceeds for December 1st. Mint will donate to four other charities on the other days. So our day is Saturday, December 1st.

See what all the exciteMINT is about. Go to their grand opening celebration and holiday extravaganza! Enjoy complimentary refreshments and sample fresh bites while shopping for home furnishings, decor, and gifts.

Mint is a new retail store combining an upscale home decor and gift store featuring a selection of eco-friendly goods with a gourmet deli offering a fresh seasonal menu, wine by the glass, and bottled microbrews.

Their hours are 10am to 8pm each day. Shop local and support your community.

Location:
4652 Scotts Valley Drive (new building)
Scotts Valley, CA
Close to Civic Center Drive

Elite Martial Arts is raising funds for our schools along with doing what they know and love. They are offering to pass 100% of your initial fee to Scotts Valley Educational Foundation when you sign up for one month or more. Usually they charge $155.00, but they are offering it to you for only $75.00, which all goes to SVEF. Please bring a copy of this coupon (or just mention it) with your check made out to SVEF before January 31, 2008.

Scotts Valley Educational Foundation is very happy to support local business in their help with raising funds to assist public schools within the Scotts Valley School district. The NorCal Sports Complex, along with providing the best in sports training and instruction for every child that visits their facility, strongly believes that it is important for our public schools to have every opportunity to provide the best education for every student served. NorCal would like to announce a special program from October through December where 10% of every Tuesday’s revenue will be donated to the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation.

Some of the opportunities at the complex include:

• Baseball and Softball Training
• Batting Cages
• Virtual Reality Games
• Birthday Parties
• Travel Teams
• Athletic Equipment

Our children need to receive the best in education and skills development. Your purchases at NorCal from October through December will help to bring in the necessary funds to ensure this happens.

Nor Cal Sports Complex is open from 11:30am to 8:30pm on Tuesdays and located at 320 Encinal Street, Santa Cruz. You can reach them by phone at 831-423-6272.