Photo by Nimai Malle

Smiles abounded Wednesday night as the Eanes Education Foundation presented the Eanes Independent School District with a $1.01 million check. Taking part in the presentation are, from left, Jay Southworth of Independence Title, Eanes school board member Jim Strickland, EEF Executive Director Wally Moore, EISD Superintendent Nola Wellman, EEF President Myra Bull, Jennifer Ramberg, of Heritage Title Company of Austin and Shelia Bostick of Treaty Oak Bank. The gift will fund the salaries of 19 teachers and provide professional training this school year.

Members of the Eanes Education Foundation broke the million-dollar sound barrier Wednesday when they presented the Eanes school district with a check for $1.01 million in supportive funding for the coming school year.

“We are so grateful for this gift of teachers for all of our students,” district Superintendent Nola Wellman said. “With state funding remaining flat and the cost of educating our students increasing, we look more than ever to the Eanes Education Foundation to provide additional funding, helping to ensure we remain a leader in education in Texas and throughout the country.”

The million-dollar-plus check represents a record-breaking year for the 14-year-old foundation, which acts as the fundraising arm for the Eanes school district – a district hit hard in recent years by the state’s recapture program. Currently 56 percent of taxes paid by residents and businesses in the property-rich district are seized by the state of Texas and redistributed to property poor school districts. Of the $99.4 million paid in local taxes last year, $54.3 million was recaptured by the state. This year, the district expects to take a $5 million hit in property tax collection due to the falling values of its commercial property assessments. Of the $94.1 million of property tax revenue expected this year, $52.7 million will be recaptured by the state.

EEF President Myra Bull said the record-setting grant was made possible by the foundation’s generous donors, dedicated volunteers and effective and efficient giving programs.

“We thank our parent and business community for their generosity, which continues to protect and enhance excellence in the Eanes Independent School District,” she said. “The Eanes school community has great appreciation for quality public school education. The district has been delivering on that for many years now. Our community recognizes the gap that exists between the state of Texas’ definition of an adequate education and the exemplary, award-winning education this community wants and expects. Gifts to the foundation work to close that gap, and I think EEF donors recognize that.”

The EEF donation may prove especially important this year as EISD looks at a deficit budget and a pull from it’s fund balance of up to $4.3 million. Schools throughout the state are suffering the impact of inadequate funding resulting from state contributions that are frozen at 2006 expense levels. Even though the state has frozen public school funding based on expenses reported five years ago, the cost of educating Texas students continues to escalate significantly due to inflation, increasing health costs and the annual salary increases teachers and staff have come to expect.

As the local school district spirals into deficit budgets along with most other districts in the state, EEF looks for new methods of support not subject to state recapture. That kind of support requires voluntary donations. In the last year, EEF has stepped up its efforts to work with businesses in support of district schools.

“In addition to the Annual Giving Campaign underwritten by Independence Title and the Annual Gala presented by Heritage Title Company of Austin and Treaty Oak Bank, several new features were unveiled in our initiatives this year,” said Wally Moore, EEF executive director. “The Leadership Society made its debut with 15 members and we pumped up the volume with our first-ever, Challenge Day. Events were hosted on all campuses and culminated in a tailgate party with the Chaps Club before the home game against Austin High School.”

The $1.01 million check will cover $950,000 of salary costs for 19 district teachers next year and $60,000 in funding for the Partnership for Teacher Excellence program to help 10 district teachers earn master’s degrees. Moore said that EEF focuses on keeping it’s funding closest to students by funding teachers.

“In our mind this is where the rubber meets the road,” he said. “Teachers generate the ‘shazam’ of educational magic in classrooms from K to 12. EEF’s funding helps to assure that there is a highly qualified teacher in that classroom and that the teacher-student ratio is appropriate for that class.”

Many of the teachers funded by EEF are filling positions that are not required or funded by the state of Texas, Moore said.

School board members were expected to vote later Wednesday night (after press) on whether or not to approve a proposed $66.6 million district operating budget for the 2010-11 school year, including the projected $3 million to $4.3 million fund balance withdrawal.

For updated information, visit westlakepicayune.com.