Parents and community members stepping up to help fund school activities are hardly new; Parent Teacher Organizations have been doing it for years. But as school budgets become tighter, communities leaders are banding together to fund innovative teaching projects that would otherwise not happen.
In 2011, a group of education and community leaders formed a nonprofit, SEED (Seacoast Educational Endowment Dover), to “promote academic excellence, champion technology and reward educator innovation in Dover’s public schools.” Stuart Kahl, founding principal of Measured Progress in Dover and chair of the SEED board of directors, says the organization is not intended to help lower the school budget, but rather make funding available for projects that otherwise would not be covered by the budget. “We’re looking for innovative ideas dealing with instruction,” he says.
Teachers can apply for innovation grants of $500 to $1,000 twice a year in December and May. The 10-member board has so far doled out about $12,000 in grants, and has been busy recruiting sponsors to support future grants. Kahl’s own organization, Measured Progress, a nonprofit with more than 400 employees that provides student assessments in 17 states, was among the first, pledging $25,000 over 5 years. In February, the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment in Dover pledged $10,000, as did Federal Savings Bank in Dover in March. A recent online auction netted SEED $13,000.
In its most recent grant round in May, SEED awarded four education grants totaling $2,500 to Dover Middle School programs. The grants included $1,168 to technology education teacher John Clark to purchase a 3D printer for the DMS Tech Ed computer lab. For more information, visit doverseed.org.
Current Issue - May 2024