School District Seeks $1M in Donations to Save Teaching Jobs

In response to severe cuts in state funding, the on Feb. 17 announced the launch of a communitywide fundraising campaign to avoid teacher layoffs and maintain classes. The campaign, called Save Our Schools, aims to raise $1 million by the end of March.

“Because of Sacramento’s inability to provide equitable and sufficient funding for our public schools, we must ask our community to help us protect our schools and our kids,” schools Superintendent Donald Zimring said in a statement.

If the campaign goal is not met, layoffs could affect between 40 and 60 teachers, according to figures provided by district Chief Business Officer Karen Kimmel.

“All funds raised under the campaign would be dedicated to preventing teacher layoffs and protecting instructional programs,” Kimmel wrote in an e-mail.

Las Virgenes Unified has lost $10 million in state funding since the 2007-08 school year.

The district has an operating budget of $93.7 million for 2010-11 and anticipates a $91.7-million budget for the next school year, Kimmel said. The school district expects to lose a further $2.9 million for 2012-13 and another $1.4 million for 2013-14.

Supplementing district funding efforts is the recently formed Together Helping Education Foundation, spearheaded by Agoura Hills High School Parent Faculty Committee Co-President Ziona Friedlander.

Concerned parents and community and business leaders banded together in December 2010 to form the foundation with the express goal of raising money “to provide long-term, sustained financial assistance and support for [LVUSD],” Friedlander said.

The Save Our Schools donor-directed campaign will solicit people and businesses that are in a position to make a significant contribution, Friedlander said.

“The situation is such that public school districts can’t count on state funding, and without that, schools can’t deliver the quality education they strive to deliver,” Friedlander said. “[We] are not interested in ‘crisis fundraising’—it’s problematic and unpredictable.”

Anyone is invited to make a donation on the school district’s Web site via credit card or mail-in checks.

Friedlander points to a similar campaign launched by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Education Foundation in fall 2010 that raised more than $1.5 million in six weeks after voters rejected a parcel tax to supplement the district’s budget.

“Despite the economic situation, there still is a lot of wealth in this community,” Friedlander said.

For three years, the district has worked to close the gap via austerity measures, such as reduced salaries for all staff, shortened school years, custodial cutbacks and an 18-percent reduction in administrative personnel costs.

“If they want to attract and retain qualified teachers, the district can’t make any more cuts in that area,” said Marisa Smith, who has taught English at for six years. “We’ve already made a lot of sacrifices this year and last. We appreciate the district’s efforts to make us feel valued by trying other methods before cutting teachers and salaries.”

To save teaching jobs and maintain class sizes, four furlough days were instituted this school year.

A $2-million one-time federal grant awarded in October 2010 is being applied against a $5-million deficit for this school year, and has restored some instructional days; the district’s goal is to restore a 180-day instructional year, Kimmel stated.

A May 2010 survey found that voters would approve a parcel tax of up to $114 to bolster the schools, but no such measure has yet to be pursued. In August, school district officials approached the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District with a water bill proposal that would levy a $1 contribution per household; the water district has yet to respond to the proposal, Kimmel said.

Friedlander said that the Together Helping Education Foundation will not influence district decisions and has no agenda other than fundraising to support school district initiatives.

“It can be done,” Calabasas High Parent Faculty Club President Lucy Martin wrote in an e-mail. “We have a great school district behaving responsibly within a real fiscal crisis. I support T.H.E. Foundation in its efforts to save our great teachers and school programs. I personally am going to write a check, and I urge all district residents who care about our children’s education to do so as well.”

Click here for more information regarding the “Save our Schools” campaign.