A growing number of California schools and districts are turning to their non-profit foundations to help offset state cuts.
Education foundations have been around since the early 1980s, when schools faced budget cuts after the passage of Proposition 13.
Susan Sweeney with the California Consortium of Education Foundations says the non-profits play two roles.
“One is to raise funds and to bring in volunteers,” said Sweeney. “The second important thing an education foundation can do is to mobilize the community around the schools and the children in their community.”
That can include lobbying, or even advertising, for a school bond or tax measure.
Education foundations aren’t technically part of the school or district they serve. But there’s typically some amount of collaboration or control.
