Community will gather to raise cash for MB schools
In order to save teachers and educational programs next school year, the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation will hold its first community-wide Rally for Education next Thursday to raise money during its second annual Pledge Week.
The organization hopes to raise at least $4.4 million, the same amount it brought in last year during its annual appeal, which lasts from August until January. Money raised during last year’s appeal helped keep class sizes small and saved the jobs of 66 educators, as well as counselors, librarians, advisors, and science and computer specialists this year.
“We’d like the entire community to participate in giving and understanding the value of good education. We hope to see parents get us at least as close as last year,” said MBEF Executive Director Susan Warshaw, who last week visited Sacramento to advocate on behalf of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District for unrestricted school funding.
MBEF has so far raised $2 million this year, according to Warshaw, who hopes the bulk of the remaining goal will come in next week.
“Because we raise money for the next school year, we want to get a sense by November of how much parents will be contributing so we can begin discussing with the school districts what kind of grants we can give next year,” she said.
MBEF was founded in 1983 with the goal of enhancing existing school programs, such as art and music. In the wake of unprecedented school budget cuts in recent years, the organization now helps fund core programs.
“The money that [MBEF raises] shows that the community places the district as a whole above individual schools, which is unusual,” said MBUSD Superintendent Michael Matthews. “The rally will be a celebration of what our community has done for all of our kids.”
Matthews stressed the importance of MBEF contributions to the district, especially in the face of a state budget that was passed 100 days late and subject to possible mid-year cuts.
Uncertainty over who will be elected as the state’s new governor Tuesday has made the district’s projection of an additional $1.6 million in revenue next year tenuous, according to Matthews.
“We do not believe that all the increases in funding will be there when the new governor is elected,” he said. “We think there is a good chance they will go away.”
The city named Nov. 4 “MBEF Pledge Day.”
Next Thursday’s rally is intended not only to raise enough money to sustain the same programs MBEF funded last year, but also to demand proper funding from Sacramento for all California public schools.
Participants will be encouraged to make monetary pledges, sign a community pledge banner and write letters to the state’s new governor, either Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman, which will be mailed the Sacramento.
Matthews and Mayor Richard Montgomery are expected to attend the event, along with hundreds of teachers, parents, students, business leaders and other community members.
The Rally for Education will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. next Thursday, Nov. 4 at the Metlox Center at 1221 North Valley Drive, Manhattan Beach.
For more information, visit www.mbef.org. ER