YOUR AD HERE »

TTUSD campaigns for cash

TANYA CANINO, Sun News Service

Community and teacher response to a $100,000 plea for the school district has been strong, through payroll deductions by district staff and checks in the mail from parents.

A ski day on Monday, Dec. 13, is the piece that the Tahoe-Truckee Excellence in Education Foundation hopes will put the fund-raiser to its goal.

“This is a three-phased approach and part of the foundation’s commitment of keeping the education system strong in our community,” said Foundation President Scott Ryan.



The nonprofit, private foundation is raising $100,000 as an insurance that the Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District will be able to maintain its 28-to-1 teacher to student ratio and its many educational programs.

The $100,000 Program Continuation Fund will be used in the district’s reserve, which will enable the TTUSD to start increasing its reserve level from 3 percent to 5 percent or 6 percent. This will also free up money to be used to continue programs.



The fund “would not need to be created year to year,” Ryan said.

Teachers and staff in the school district were first asked to contribute through a payroll deduction or a one-time donation.

“We’ve had a payroll deduction plan for Excellence in Education for many years, but in the last couple of months from teachers and staff at school sites and district offices, it has increased to 20 times its previous size,” Ryan said.

He said TTUSD staff is contributing anywhere from $2 to $50 per paycheck.

The foundation is also asking parents to participate and mailed about 4,000 letters before Thanksgiving that asked for a donation.

If every parent donated $50, the foundation would be able to reach its $100,000 goal, Ryan said.

“We’ve had a tremendous response from this letter,” Ryan said.

Excellence in Education asked parents to respond by Wednesday, so he did not know how much had been raised yet.

The final aspect of the fund-raiser is a community ski day at Northstar-at-Tahoe. Lift tickets will be sold for $15 on Monday, Dec. 13, and the ski area will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the foundation.

Once the fund is established, the Excellence in Education Foundation believes that the school district will be able to continue to maintain 28-to-1 class sizes in grades 6-12, as well as honors level programs and higher academic standards.


Support Local Journalism

 

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond make the Sierra Sun's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.