Last weekend, some 400 people gathered at the Scotts Valley Community Center to help celebrate the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation’s three decades of service to Scotts Valley’s public schools.
The all-volunteer organization, which raises money through a bevy of fundraiser events throughout the year, uses the proceeds to allow the Scotts Valley Unified School District to offer services and programs that might not have otherwise been possible due to budget shortfalls.
According to SVEF President Derek Timm, the organization has provided — over its 30-year existence — more than $2 million in support. Those funds have gone to provide Scotts Valley schools with such things as computer labs, library staffing, counseling services, and professional development for teachers.
SVEF was founded, Timm said, by Toby and Michael Alexander to address the then-looming budget shortfall facing the SVUSD in the wake of Proposition 30’s passage.
“That was the beginning of Scotts Valley being an underfunded school district,” he said. “We are in the bottom three percent of what we get (in funding) per student.”
The Alexanders took inspiration for the organization from the community of the Piedmont Unified School District, which had a similar population and budgetary issues.
Now, the SVEF’s board of directors is staffed by approximately 20 people — educators, parents, and community members alike.
The organization raises funds throughout the school year with events such as the Mountain Charlie Challenge, and the annual Christmas tree lot. What those funds will support is decided upon at the end of each school year.
“At the end of the year, the district will tell us what their most current needs are that aren’t being met by the state,” said Timm.
According to SVUSD Superintendent Penny Weaver, the organization contributed $84,000 to the district for the upcoming 2015-16 school year, which will be used for libraries and counseling services.
“They’re just a tremendous organization … they keep our libraries staffed,” she said. “The cost for that is over $50,000. I feel so much gratitude for those that have taken on (this challenge).”
The celebration, which included family friendly activities including a climbing wall and a pie-throwing contest, drew many figures from the organization’s past, present, and future.
According to Timm, the SVEF plans to use the event as a springboard for a final fundraising effort to create an endowment that will earn interest for the schools.
He said the organization has allotted 15 percent of the total funds raised annually into the endowment since 2009, a year in which the district’s needs weren’t as high as normal and left the SVEF with a surplus of funds.
Investing an initial $120,000 in a time when the market was low has massively paid off for the SVEF, as the recovering stock market has pushed the endowment’s value north of $400,000.
The goal, Timm said, is for the endowment to reach a goal value of $500,000, at which point it can create a self-sustaining source of funds for the organization to contribute, that will reduce its reliance on raising money from the community.
For more information about the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation, as well as how to contribute, visit www.svef.net.
