Past Grants: FY 04 Emergency Grant FAQs

How were the funding priorities determined?

The school superintendent developed the funding priorities with input from her staff and the School Committee. They considered factors such as core mission, mandates they are required to fulfill and system-wide impacts to produce the list that was given to ASF.

If the total amount of money needed is not raised how will the funds be applied to items on the list?

Money will be applied to the items in the order they appear on the list. If, for example, $250k is raised, then that money will go toward replacing the reading teachers. If $230k gets raised then the school system will put back the number of reading teachers that the funds will pay for - perhaps some working part time if the exact amount doesn't cover full time equivalent positions. But all of the funds will be used even if it's less than what is needed to fund all the reading positions under the premise that putting some back to serve the needs of students is better than not putting any back at all.

Does this list of priorities mean that class size reduction won't be addressed until more than $250k is raised?

Yes. The school system has made reading teachers their number 1 priority. Class size is number 2 and will be funded after reading support has been restored. If, for example, only $50k is raised beyond the $250k for reading, then that money will be used to returning as many teachers to the classrooms as that amount will pay for and they will put them where class size is having the most impact.

This list represents the system's most critical set of items to fund and providing reading support is #1 on the list. Class size is # 2 and on down the list of 5 items. It's no small change - but we knew it took a lot of money to run a school system. This gives people an idea of just how much.

Priority #2, classroom teachers to address staff to student ratios and program breadth is not very specific. Can you be more specific about where teachers will be put back?

To point to specific classes is not possible right now as the needs are extensive across the district and the decision to fund one class over another must be made in the context of overall class composition/level of staffing available at that grade/school and ability of the system to access other funds (such as other grants that could be secured). Much of this information is still fluid and will continue to be so over the next month. What we are sure of is that this money will go to classroom teaching positions that will either reduce class size if needed, or will add classes to a given program (e.g. high school English elective).

$142k seems like it will only fund a few teachers. Will this really solve the issues of classroom size and high school electives?

This is the amount that the school system has determined is needed to prevent significant damage to the quality of education being delivered in the area of class size and program offerings. This does not mean that all the issues will be solved if they have this amount of funding available. Funding these positions will only address the critical needs in this area, which will then cause something else being cut to rise in priority, i.e. social workers providing direct services to kids in need. With a $3 million deficit the system must constantly juggle priorities. This list allows them to mitigate some of the losses but it will not restore the system completely

Will Specific programs like Spanish and ACE be funded this year?

This question should be addressed to the school committee, Superintendent Kay Donovan or the principal at your school. They are working very hard to save some of everything, but that is just anecdotal and indicates no specific knowledge on our part. We understand the concerns of people who want to see favored programs restored. But the defeat of the override has forced the town to make hard choices from a range of undesirable scenarios.

The more money raised by ASF between now and July 31, the better the effect on our schools system wide, and if we were, by some miracle, to raise more money than the essential needs outlined, the school system would happily receive them and put them to use.

Why is a part time grant writer a priority for the system? Isn't that an administrative position?

Arlington received approximately $2 million dollars in grants for programs in the last school year for entitlement programs that are critical to our school system (e.g. special education, Title 1). In addition we receive about $1 million dollars in competitive grants such as Spanish and All Day Kindergarten. The reporting requirements have increased significantly since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed last year. Therefore the loss of a grant writing position puts the system in danger of a) not meeting federal requirements on reporting and b) o not being able to maximize opportunities for funding. ASF believes that not funding this position would be penny-wise and pound-foolish since the results more than cover the cost.

Will ASF continue to provide funding for these priorities in the future?

ASF is creating a one-time grant which will be given to fund as many of the items on the school system's priority list as the money raised will allow to mitigate some of the impact on the schools of the $3 million deficit. Once this fund raising drive is finished on July 31st , we will continue with our mission of providing grants for educational and leadership initiatives that will have a long term impact on the delivery of education to children in Arlington.

Does ASF have any political affiliations?

This foundation is a 501(c) 3, a private charitable foundation. Political activities and affiliations are outside the scope of the foundation's charter. Our established mission does not call for funding the basic needs of the school system, but rather to support excellence in education in the Arlington Schools. It does, however, specify that we will work to maintain and improve public education in Arlington, which justifies our taking on this one-time campaign. We have decided to take on this six-week campaign given the immediate needs of the school system.

What else has ASF funded?

ASF was formed in 2001 and after spending 2002 setting up and being certified as a 501(c) 3, we created a board and worked on defining our mission and initial strategy. Last year we funded an initiative to address the system-wide goal of recruitment and retention of high quality staff. We also funded a grant to support the Gay Straight Alliance to improve education of our high school students and to provide outreach to the community as part of the system's safe schools initiative. Anonymous donors funded both these grants.

In the spring of 2003, We voted as a board to not to actively raise funds or seek grant applicants during the override campaign to avoid any confusion about the first priority for funding our schools, which should be the town government (with assistance from the state).