Monthly Archives: March 2012

0 There is still money available for K-12 schools

In a recent article, “Grants for K-12 Schools do exist” we discussed the availability of grants for K-12 schools. Here is yet another example of how schools are cashing in on the obtainability of free money.

An elementary school in Costa Mesa, CA received a pot-o-gold just in time for a St.Patrick’s Day celebration. The school was presented a check for nearly $4,500 on March 16, from City National Bank to purchase new books for their library.

The donation matched the $3,000 in books the school collected at a holiday Barnes & Nobles book drive, which brought in 450 books.

The funds were awarded from City National Bank’s, Reading is the Way Up program, where since 2002 the company has donated more than 80,000 books to California, New York and Nevada schools and classroom libraries.

This donation is a boost for the school, which has recently started participating in the Accelerated Reader program, a program that tests student reading comprehension while encouraging them to read more often.

The program has increased students’ love for reading, and with the additional funds, the school will be able to purchase a variety of books that appeal to all types and levels of readers.

0 Fundraising: How Online Registration Helps

A recent poll showed that 1 in 4 parents are considering switching their child(ren) from a traditional large public school environment to a smaller (independent, private, charter, religious) school. Parents feel that smaller schools have a clear academic focus and vision for high quality successful learning, while in the public school system, there is a greater gap in achievement between socioeconomic classes, more violence and higher dropout rates, and children can easily get lost in the large, impersonal system.

This can become tricky for smaller schools, because unlike the public school system that is required by law to accept all children, smaller schools typically have an admission and acceptance process. This increase in student applicants can be one of the most costly, outdated and environmentally wasteful processes that small schools endure every year. With the help of an online registration system, small schools have the ability to not only save money, but also generate it though fundraising.

A registration system that incorporates fundraising can prove valuable, help make money for the school, and in many cases, even pay for itself. With the economic downturn and flailing economy, it is necessary for smaller schools to identify processes that can be improved or optimized to generate funds through SAVINGS.

K-12 Online offers a complete online student registration software application that transforms the student application & enrollment process by eliminating expensive paper-based methods. Offering online access to customizable forms and reports, K-12 Online™ is an AFFORDABLE system that will help your school with fundraising in addition to saving money, time and resources!

0 School Management Software for private schools, charter schools and public schools

According to D’Agostino, K-12 Online, the school management software, benefitted his school in ways he never even thought of.

Principal Phil D’Agostino’s Costa Mesa High school piloted K-12 Online this past year. According to D’Agostino, K-12 Online, the school management software, benefitted his school in ways he never even thought of. Here are just a few of the benefits of this safe and secure, paperless educational technology.

The school management system is able to report the online registration progress of students. It will show which students have actually started to register. Right in the middle of the summer, we could flag students who had not started the registration process and call them. We would have a better idea of our master schedule in the middle of the summer rather than the week before school. We could then hire staff accordingly.

The online registration system also has the ability to send messages to the safe and secure parent and student portal so when students logged in to enroll, they could take care of business before going through the registration line during registration week such as pay for lost text and library books which can be a huge savings for schools.

When students return during registration day, they only have one signed form to return. It’s virtually paperless. The school management software has the ability to check-in students so we lined up 5 terminals and had staff accept the form and check them in. The students then proceeded to pick up their ASB items, take their school picture and pick up their books. It was so fast, we had no lines at 9.00am, a half hour into registration. The system once again was able to report who had actually checked in so follow-up calls could be made.

This school management system has made registration so efficient that next year, the number of registration days will be reduced, saving the school money and allowing the staff to get back to their offices and prepare for the start of school!

0 Fundraising Made Easy: Best School Practices

In addition to being educators, public school teachers have the never-ending task of hand wringing and scrounging to provide the simplest classroom needs.

So when DonorsChoose.org, a fundraising website, launched in 2000 to engage the community and provide individuals a simple, accountable and personal way to address educational inequality, teachers and PTA’s across the nation were ecstatic.

DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. It connects public school teachers with people who want to support classroom learning.

Public school teachers from across America can post classroom project requests; anything from pencils for a poetry writing contest to instruments for a school recital, balls for P.E. class, or iPads for online book access.

0 Disparity in school funds increases socioeconomic gap

Recent reports in the news show a growing disparity over how schools within the same district raise funds. It is not uncommon for a gap between the have and have-not’s to exist within a school district.

Public schools are meant to provide all children equal access to quality education; however, there are great disparities throughout the public education system.

Private donations made to schools in more affluent communities makes this disparity an even greater gap.

The question then becomes, how does a district provide a level playing field for all schools within their district? Continue reading

0 Grants for K-12 Schools Do Exist

There are many companies out there that are committed to education and giving back to the community. One such example is Target Corporation.

Through community outreach, Target is on pace to give $1 billion by the end of 2015 to support schools in communities nationwide.

Through partnerships with educators, Target helps students and their families engage in free arts and cultural events nationwide, provides reading and education programs to schools, and funds grants to K-12 schools to support educational filed trips, provide early childhood reading programs, and more. Continue reading