WHO:
The Public Education Foundation, Inc. (PEF) is a public, not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1995 to support South Bend's Public schools and to engage the South Bend community in its public education. It is governed by a 29-member community Board of Directors, and is funded almost entirely by private donations. The only "public" funds it receives are from the sale of Indiana's Education License Plates.
WHAT:
Local education foundations across the country are a major part of the solution to the challenges of today's public education. In the past five years alone, they have not only contributed nearly half a billion dollars to support public schools and the communities they serve, they have worked to convert this financial capital to social capital by reconnecting parents and other stakeholders to key issues confronting public schools.
WHERE:
PEF supports students in the South Bend Community School Corporation, an urban school district comprised of 33 schools and currently serving nearly 22,000 students. Over half of its student population is minority, and nearly half qualify for free lunch.
WHY:
Public education is currently facing a severe budget crisis; public funding can no longer meet the needs of public schools and public schoolchildren. Our children, our community's greatest resources, are being short-changed, and our community feels the impact.
HOW:
Money raised by the Public Education Foundation supplements public funding, it does not replace it. To date, the Foundation has invested nearly half a million in South Bend public schools: through grants to teachers and schools for curriculum enrichment projects, and to administrators for professional development and most recently, reading remediation and early childhood development. But we have only scratched the surface; an aware and engaged community is imperative to achieve excellence and equity in our public education. It's well past the time to put the "public" in public education.
A proud member of the Public Education Network
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PUBLIC EDUCATION PUBLIC BENEFIT
