Children can't wait for politicians to behave
Tuesday, September 2, 2003 8:19 AM PDT

Foreseeing potentially devastating cuts to Conejo Valley Unified School District coffers in light of the estimated $38 billion state budget deficit, back in June, the district board voted to create a private, nonprofit foundation that would help fill that projected shortfall. This month will see the kickoff for the "First 100 Days Campaign" of the Conejo Schools Foundation.

The mission of the foundation is to augment state funding and enrich educational resources in Conejo schools through instructional, capital, program and endowment funding. This means seeking donations to help pay teachers and purchase classroom materials, to assist in facility rehabilitation and construction and attempt to create an endowment fund to furnish the dollars needed to forever ensure quality education for Conejo Valley students.
This type of creative fundraising has been used to good effect in the Conejo area.

The Alliance for the Arts, the nonprofit fundraising arm for the two theatres and arts programming of the Countrywide Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center, has raised millions, making that arts' operation one of the few in the nation to operate in the black. Just last year, a similar foundation successfully raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to stopgap shortfall in the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

With countless parents financially floundering due to an extremely weak economy, facing what many estimate to be as much as $1,000-per-child to ready their kids to go back to school is this foundation something that they should be expected to support? The short answer is, "Yes."

Children can't wait for high and mighty politicians to stop bickering and fix the state. Every day a student goes into a classroom with an unacceptable teacher-to-student ratio, where needed materials don't exist or arts programs have been ripped away is a day forever lost, and the damage can be forever debilitating.
When the foundation comes knocking, support it, and become a part of a legacy that will be long remembered.