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Booster Clubs for Academics

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July 2, 2009

We have booster clubs for high school baseball, basketball, football, girls softball, golf, band, etc All these groups of parents work their rumps off to help their children's extracurricular activities. The booster clubs hold golf tournaments, bake sales, bingo events, anything to raise money to pay for uniforms, score boards and fields of play and gear. Local businesses donate all kinds of items for sale or outright donations of money. This is great for the teams and band.

I have a novel idea, why don't we start academic booster clubs. We've all read how teachers have to fund items for their classrooms. Well... that's total crap. There are not enough text books for our kids to bring home to study. Not enough computers for the classrooms. The air conditioners don't work in the spring and early summer and heating doesn't work well in the winter. All these lead to poor learning environments.

Instead of our heating and air conditioning repair companies donating cash to various clubs, how about donating manpower and parts to repairing our school infrastructure?

Instead of plumbing companies donating cash to various clubs, fix the plumbing.

Other companies can donate money to buy additional math and science textbooks. Buy beakers and computers. Local businesses could donate TV monitors to view online and cable educational activities. Buy art supplies and how about landscaping companies supplying trees and other green plants for outdoor classrooms.

Our Latin American businesses could donate money to Spanish language classes. Car dealers to automotive classes. Etc, Etc, and more Etc.

Please don't say we already pay school taxes, I know we do but it is not enough. I'm not against the extracurricular activities at all, my children participated in many of them but our children are being deprived of educational opportunities and these academic booster clubs could be a great solution for their academic achievement.

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15.	Posted by Tamed-Shrew July 20, 2009
	"I believe until 1999, the lottery money went into the general fund. Since then all proceeds have been dedicated to the education system. You asked where it is, I think it has gone to new school buildings and teachers salaries. It certainly hasn't gone to books and supplies." The designated lottery money goes towards preschool programs and KEES, which helps students "earn" tuition money for college by providing monetary incentives for good grades. School construction and teacher salaries come from two separate funds - capital outlay and administrative budgets. Things like books and such come from program budgets, or supplies, depending on how the items are classified. Funding for any of these budgets is pretty well-defined, preventing monies to be shifted from on budget to another, usually because of restrictions provided by the source (federal, state, or private grant). I wouldn't count on any government entity to fund anything "useful," unless some wonderful teacher takes the initiative to apply for a grant. Governments only attempt to retain the status quo, not expansion of current programs. Instead, look into private grants for communities and/or assemble local sponsors to form a foundation. Of course, then you run into the problem of the foundation being rejected by the Superintendent, because its contributions do not "fully-fund" a project. It's all a shell game.

14.	Posted by Vivian July 19, 2009
	A business complains about not having qualified people in the job force to meet their needs. A business will quicky donate to this or that sports team or sports trip because they want to be associated with winners or athletics. They hope this will add to their bottom line with the team and its supporters (tens of people) patronizing its business. Never happens! Carrying that thought pattern a little further, a business readily donates funds to a school subject, (science, math, auto body etc) and all the students in these classes, Now we have hundreds of students and possibly thousands of parents, grandparents supporting these businesses. And they get an educated workforce in the end. These businesses will be investing in their future success by investing in our children.

13.	Posted by jstivers2 July 8, 2009
	Cowbell, I personally think a lot of money that is supposed to go to edu gets rerouted. I mean, where is all the lottery money>>>???? ------------------------------- Ask someone in the Department of Education how much money is spent on administrative cost in the Department of Education? I tired, could not get a strait answer. Aministrative cost go up and teachers leave the class room to be employees of the Education Department. Some, don't know how many, are already retired, draw another retirement and continue to work in the Department of Education. New programs within the Education Department are started, many times with only Federal grants. This pays for the all the start ups and administrative cost of new initiatives in which the Federal Government has education grants. As staff members find these grants they convince someone the new program is needed and it is all paid for. That is not the case. When the Federal money, (grants) runs out those programs then become part of the Kentucky Education Department to fund. Thus the budget goes up. How much this increases the operating cost I have not been able to find out.( Others welcome to try) This is part of the problem with money for education. It would seem it would be much better to pay teachers in the high range of around $70,000 per year and increase the school days. Set standards and graduation rates for the teachers. If the level of education does not increase over all, then perhaps it is time to find a replacement teacher and re-evaluate the learning process being used for teaching..

12.	Posted by Vivian July 7, 2009
	RangerDanger, When did we start letting 3 or 4 people dictate what goes on in a school. Those days need to end. We need to think outside the box and come up with ideas to relieve the burdens to teachers. I hope people will provide other ideas for our school officials to ponder over.

11.	Posted by RangerDanger July 6, 2009
	"We sell billboards on the baseball outfield fences, why not sell classroom wall space to generate funds for the subject." The "commercialization police" would never have it!!! I remember Channel 1 when I was in middle school. Channel 1 was a 15-20 minute rundown of all things news, sports, weather, entertainment, etc that was broadcast over a dedicated system to classrooms. This equipment (along with TVs in the classrooms) was provided to schools free of charge. The catch was that they advertised during the broadcasts. Parents threw a fit over this.

10.	Posted by Need4speed July 2, 2009
	We need to go back to the "agriculturally" based school year. We need to go back to "see you in September" and do away with the service days and the fall breaks and all the other horsecrap that has come along with the new and improved schedule. As a bonus, this takes the load off of the cooling system which most of us as young'uns (who had to walk both ways uphill in the snow) didn't have the luxury of. Also, by and large we have good teachers. Administration and the state need to leave them the hell alone and let them do their job.

9.	Posted by Vivian July 2, 2009
	One thing that would help the students learn is if the interior classrooms weren't so hot during the Fall, Spring and early summer. Is there a heating and air company that could come into Western Hills and see if they can offer a solution to this problem. It was terribly hot this spring and early summer and it was hard for the kids to pay attention in class. We sell billboards on the baseball outfield fences, why not sell classroom wall space to generate funds for the subject. Here's one waaaaay out there, I can see Joe Graviss' McDonalds sponsoring a high school. Think about it, my childs goes to McDonalds Western Hills High School or Art Electrics Franklin County High School or Montaplasts' Bondurant Elementary, or C. Michael Davenports Frankfort High School. We could have HMB sponsor the Engineering subjects, Crossroads Ford could sponsor auto body classes, State Journal could sponsor the Journalism classes. Wilsons could sponsor the Agriculture classes. What do you think? Wayne Dominick, any thoughts?

8.	Posted by Vivian July 2, 2009
	Please don't let this topic get hijacked into personal insults to each other. I put this post here so we can present better ways to help the teachers get the equipment and books they need to teach our children to the best of their ability. Cow bell, I believe until 1999, the lottery money went into the general fund. Since then all proceeds have been dedicated to the education system. You asked where it is, I think it has gone to new school buildings and teachers salaries. It certainly hasn't gone to books and supplies. The reason I say it hasn't gone to books and supplies is one class my child had as a Freshman wasn't allowed to bring books home to study due to lack of them. Science, math, Tech center all were lacking computers or supplies so the teachers used their own money to teach their subjects. This is very sad. My booster club idea has nothing to do with the PTA. The PTA (I assume) is a school wide club, what I'm talking about is a booster club specifically for: the Tech Center at FCHS Spanish class Math Departments Science Departments English Deptartments Library World studies etc. Unlike athletic clubs, the various subject departments might only need $500 to $1,000 per year. I'm going to raise a few bucks for these departments. I'm not talking about funding positions or teachers aides. I'm not looking to create teaching jobs, I'm looking at supplying teachers with the tools they need to teach our children, especially science and math. If Superintendent Buecker refuses to allow the classes to accept the funds I raise, therefore ensuring the teachers will again have to spend their own money, I will get involved in school board races and see if we can change leadership. Its time for outside the box thinking so we can get the students of Frankfort/Franklin County the education they deserve.

7.	Posted by sdaniel July 2, 2009
	WAY TO GO!!!!!! I am a sports booster mom and we need this help in academics as well

6.	Posted by trying July 2, 2009
	I agree. Unless of course you have bad eyes and no glasses. Anyhow, where is the lottery money? If I understand it correctly, the bill for that never specified where the money was supposed to go as in directly into education funds. I think it just goes directly into the general fund. That is a free for all fund. That's also where the gambling money would end up. If you want to support your school directly, give to the PTA, give to the teachers in form of supplies, and most importantly, give of your own time.

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