Palo Alto Partners in Education Announces Its 2010-2011 School Campaign

Goal Is to Raise More Than $3 Million for Schools

(August 17, 2010) – PALO ALTO, CA – Palo Alto Partners in Education (PiE), today launched its 2010-2011 campaign to raise money for Palo Alto’s public schools. Through the generosity of parents and community members, PiE plans to raise a record $3.035 million this school year.

[pullquote align=”right”]Download a PDF version of this press release.[/pullquote]PiE has partnered with the Palo Alto Unified School District for the past five years to raise money to support vital staff and programs identified by principals and district personnel, with input from parents, community members, and staff. PiE dollars help mitigate the effects of budget cuts and preserve the first-class education that Palo Alto residents treasure.

“PiE makes a huge difference to our students,” said Superintendent Kevin Skelly. “Donations to PiE help fund critical staff and programs such as classroom aides and science and art specialists in the elementary schools, technology mentors and elective enrichment for our middle schools, and college and career counseling as well as career/technology education for our high school students and families. PiE dollars have helped ensure that our schools can preserve essential teachers and staff despite serious cutbacks in public funding.”

Every family in the district will receive a direct appeal letter in their back-to-school packet asking for a donation to PiE. Almost 80 percent of all PiE funds are donated by parents.

“We are tremendously proud that last year, thanks to the support of our donors, we were able to give the district more than $2.9 million to support staffing and programs valuable to parents, principals and teachers. Nearly 4,000 donors contributed to our 2009-2010 campaign,” said Elaine Hahn, president of PiE. “Unfortunately, with California’s continued weak economy, the public funding picture for our schools will likely go from bad to worse, making private donations more important than ever. We hope that parents and community members will continue to ‘dig deep’ and give to PiE as generously as they can.”

Parents and community members interested in supporting PiE may visit the PiE website, at www.papie.staging.wpengine.com, to make an immediate online donation. The website also contains more information about PiE’s mission, history, finances, and volunteers. The PiE campaign will conclude in January, 2011, and the foundation’s gift will be announced at a PAUSD School Board meeting in March.

About Palo Alto Partners in Education

Palo Alto Partners in Education is a nonprofit 501(c)3 foundation that enhances educational excellence for every student in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD). It is the only foundation dedicated exclusively to raising funds for all PAUSD schools, and the only fundraising entity whose contributions can pay for additional and much-needed PAUSD teachers and staff during the school day. Since PiE’s inception in 2005, it has donated more than $12 million to Palo Alto schools. For more information about PiE, or to make a donation, please visit www.papie.staging.wpengine.com.

Contact

Judy Logan, Palo Alto Partners In Education, judylogan1@aol.com

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