school funding Archives

Feb 26 2019

Writing Grants for Community Service Projects for Students and Parents

Students can apply for grants to fund their community service projects by preparing grant proposals that are managed by a community nonprofit agency or their school. After receiving approval by the administrator of a community agency or their school, students and their parents can complete the following grant template to organize their ideas for a funding organization. Funders can be found through online fundraising websites or at a local library that manages an online fundraising database (e.g. Sunnyvale Main Library in Sunnyvale, California) in your community. Once the community agency or school approves your program plan, you can complete their grant application documentation and have the community agency or school submit their supporting administrative and financial documentation to the funder for grant review and approval. [Read more…]

Mary Ann Burke, Digital Education Expert

Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.

Oct 03 2017

How to Help Your Child Use College and Career Support Services

The new school year has started. As a superintendent of two public middle schools and a comprehensive high school, I have reflected on how I can change some of our school’s procedures and programs to fully support our college and career ready students. Here’s a list of changes that we will implement this year: [Read more…]

Yvette King-Berg, College Readiness

Yvette King-Berg, is the Executive Director of Youth Policy Institute’s Charter Schools. She was the former California Charter Schools Association Vice-President of School Development and Outreach-Southern California. Ms. King-Berg has over thirty years of experience working with teachers, students, parents, and organizations in a variety of positions including Director, Assistant Director, Curriculum Advisor, Bilingual, and Title 1 Coordinators, classroom teacher (K-12) in Pasadena and LAUSD. She has been married for twenty-three years, and is the proud mother of her son, EJ, who attends UC Berkeley.

Oct 11 2016

Parent Advocacy and the LCAP Process

This week’s blog focuses on how parents can advocate for programs that address their children’s educational needs. Public schools and districts have always encouraged parental engagement and advocacy. Now, under the State of California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) these are essential. The LCFF, which took effect in the 2013-14 school year, determines funding for public schools in our state. The LCFF requires each school district to develop a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). It further requires that the LCAP be written in collaboration with parents, educators, employees and community members. The LCAP determines how state funding will be spent in each school district. [Read more…]

Rosemarie Perez, Parenting

Rosemarie Pérez has worked with English learners and their families in public education for more than twenty years. She has served as a bilingual teacher, professional developer, and district administrator. Administrative roles included serving as the Director of English Learners for an elementary school district and as a Coordinator of Reading and Language for the San Mateo County Office of Education. Rosemarie continues to work with families as she leads the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Parent Engagement Initiative during the past three years. Ms. Pérez provides expert guidance to teachers, school site staff, and school administrators in creating culturally sensitive parent training modules and academic curricular units. She facilitates parent education and Common Core Standards workshops. Engaged parents are further trained to become parent leaders and advocates. Rosemarie is the mother of five adult children and three grandchildren.