Foundation won’t raise money for teachers

The Sisters Schools Foundation last week turned down a proposal to raise private money to hire teachers. The proposal came principally from Rob Corrigan, a member of the foundation board and a candidate for the school board in the May 17 election.

Seven other school foundations around Oregon, including neighboring Bend-La Pine, have adopted policies permitting the type of fund-raising Corrigan proposed.

Sisters Schools Foundation chairwoman Susan Arends explained: “It’s not that we’re not supportive of the concept, it’s just beyond our scope…From the beginning we have had a policy that we would not raise funds for teachers’ salaries, but the school district can very well do that.”

Sisters School Superintendent Ted Thonstad confirmed that he is looking into whether the district legally can accept private donations for teachers’ salaries if it decides to seek them. He also expressed “mixed feelings” about the idea.

“I’m concerned about the other fund-raising that we do and what the impact on that would be,” he said. “…Would it (raising money for salaries) cause a decline in what other (school-related) groups are getting?

“Another issue is that we have asked the community for support in the form of a local option. The community gave us that support and it gives us a lot of other support. I hate to keep going back to the community and saying, ‘Give us some more.’ But by the same token, I look at the other side of that…and if we got enough money to pay for a teacher and I could reduce a class size someplace, that to me is doing what’s best for kids. So there’s a conflict…”

Corrigan, who has been on the foundation board for only a few months, presented his proposal at a meeting on Thursday, March 10, but did not stay for the debate and subsequent vote.

“It seemed inappropriate for me to stay for the full discussion,” he said.

He did not know the vote count (the board has 12 members), nor did Arends divulge a numerical result, but she said the board reached a clear “consensus.”

Arends acknowledged that it was a difficult decision and that the discussion was “emotional and heartfelt.”

She added, “We debated it for two hours because we could see the merits of this and we understand the need. But again, we just had to go back to what we were established for and that is to enhance existing programs. We wanted to focus on what we’re there for…We have many projects that are going right now and this would take us in a direction we have not planned.”

Corrigan said he was anxious to find out more about the reasoning behind the decision. He said he remains “a huge supporter of the stuff the foundation is doing; it’s all good. I just wish we could do more.”

Pointing to the growing number of similar organizations trying to raise money for teachers around the state, Corrigan said “the numbers are growing because districts are waking up to the fact that the state’s funding situation is no longer adequate to cover the basics. The charters of foundations used to be to do the extras, but more and more I think local (groups) are stepping in to help cover what used to be considered basics.”

Corrigan said he and two other people, Lorie Hancock and Susannah Harrison, had been working on thefund-raising proposal for about three months.

“I have to say it’s a setback,” he said of the foundation board’s rejection. “The right way to do it strikes me as through the foundation, but if the foundation doesn’t feel that way then we’ll have to find some other way to do it. I’m not sure at this moment what that other way is yet.”

The three proponents attended a Sisters School Board meeting the night before the foundation board met. Corrigan presented a draft of regulations that would govern money raised under the suggested program. School board members deferred action until the foundation signed off on the idea.

The proposed regulations described the foundation as “the only approved vehicle for fund-raising efforts ordonations” used for instructional staff. The superintendent and other administrators would decide which positions would be filled, following normal procedures for that purpose. And any money earmarked by donors for staff at a particular school would be divided two-thirds for that school and one-third for the others.

Corrigan explained that many of the guidelines in the draft were modeled after those used in Bend-La Pine.

Formed in 1996, the Sisters Schools Foundation is best known for its Starry Nights musical events, which had earned more than $430,000 for local schools through 2003-04.

The description of the organization on the school district website calls the foundation “a public charity…to raise funds for classroom and co-curricular activities…

“Programs affected include fine arts, music, athletics, science, technology, math, outdoor school and manyothers.”

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