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Let’s look at the numbers:
USA
Mississippi
State lawmakers passed a school-funding bill that’s $45 million
less than what they’re working with right now and $79 million
short of what was requested by the Department of Education.
CANADA
British Columbia
- Government has frozen education funding for three years.
- Removed the cap or limit on administrative costs.
- Stripped the provisions from teacher collective agreements that guaranteed class size limits, specialist teacher ratios, and support for students with special needs.
Ontario
- Education funding cuts total 2.3 billion - per year since 1995, or
about $1200 per student.
AUSTRALIA
New South Wales
The Government's 'incapacity to pay' arguments in the teacher
salaries case have been exposed through the Industrial Relations Commission's
decision to award private school teachers additional increases, ranging
from 3% to 7.5% above the 12% awarded to public education teachers.
UNITED KINGDOM
South London
Parents in Brixton, who have already raised 4 million pounds,
are being told by government officials to use “ creative
approaches” to raise an additional 10 million pounds to
buy a site of land and “build their own school”, despite
the fact that the area has no secondary school.
What are parents and teachers doing to close the gap left
by governments?
The ABC’s of Fundraising
There are a number of companies that have been created to aid schools in
their quest for dollars. Companies such as Schoolcash.com and Schoolpop.com,
for example, provide online and offline shopping services, with the portion
of the consumer’s dollar going to the school of their choice.
These companies offer the easiest and most expedient way in which
to raise money. Consumers purchase from a merchant affiliated
with schoolcash or schoolpop, who give a portion of what they
make (anywhere from 1-5%) to fund education.
One can shop offline by registering their credit cards with Schoolpop
merchants. Another option is the Schoolpop Visa Card, which enables
the consumer to shop anywhere on or offline with 1% being donated
on the consumer’s behalf.
Companies such as Schoolpop make it easy to raise funds for schools,
as they do not peddle any particular product at any particular
time of the year. Their service offers options to consumers to
purchase through registered Schoolpop merchants as a way to make
a contribution to their community.
Each school registered with Schoolpop has an account manager
and are virtually guaranteed revenue through this method of fundraising.
In 2003 in the USA, Schoolpop raised a total of $8, 389
280.00. The over 300 participating merchants in the program
include Adidas, Roots, Baby Gap, American Airlines, Disneystore
and Wal-Mart.
No Small Change
Judith Spencer is a part time tutor, and full time mother
of two children. She and her husband have been fundraising for
a total of for 12 years. Judith remembers her early days of raising
$5000 for the maintenance of her preschool as merely “ training
for what lies ahead” and agrees that parents should certainly
be responsible for fundraising if they wish to have a fancy apparatus
in the playground, special books, team jerseys, and high end computer
labs.
Currently, Judith has taken part in a variety of campaigns to
raise money for both her son’s elementary and daughter’s
high school. Campaigns such as Scholastic Books Fairs, Pizza and
Hot Dog Days, Write A Cheque Campaign, Bake Sales, Chocolates,
Silent Auctions, and Gaming Funds.
Gaming Funds are by far the most lucrative avenue. Parents volunteer
to work at casinos with a certain percentage of their profit being
given back to the school, profits which can be anywhere between
5000 to 10 000 dollars.
“This is no small change!” says Judith, “Our
school has raised $8000 this year and we are leaving $1000 in
the pot for next year’s parent executive to chew on before
the next grind starts!”
On A Mission to Provide the Best
Kersti Livingstone is a grade 3 primary teacher. Her school
participates in Read-a-Thons and campaigns to sell chocolates
and magazines in order to raise funds.
She believes parents should be responsible for a certain amount
of fundraising because “We (teachers) generally pay for
many extras for which we do not receive reimbursement. We do it
because we want to provide a rich experience for the children.
If parents are to fund raise for the school it just helps make
the learning environment hat much richer.”
Another parent who has helped to chair a fundraising committee
adds,
“We try to support our local businesses and seek out their
sponsorship for our various fundraisers, holiday pageant and early
literacy program.
Parents should be involved, and so should teachers. It
should be a mission to provide the best for the kids and not politicize
the shortages or shortcomings. “
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Reproduced with
permission from Business in Vancouver Special Publications, "The Right Course" © 2004.
All rights reserved.
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