New Ravenna schools foundation will help students achieve | Along The Way
A new nonprofit foundation is being set up to help fund educational programs in the Ravenna School District and provide opportunities for its nearly 2,000 students.
Sponsored by alumni, the foundation will be dedicated to the school district, but function as an outside entity as is now required by Ohio law.
Matthew Ferrell, president of Buckeye Residential Solutions and an alumnus of Ravenna High School, is leading the effort to get the foundation up and running. Ferrell has been joined by other alumni who have agreed to serve on the foundation’s board. Brandy Tsai will serve as treasurer and Melissa Morris as secretary. Justin Yun and Amy Adams will serve as board members.
“We have filed our articles of incorporation and await a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service that gives the Ravenna Schools Foundation 501(c) 3 status,” said Ferrell. “We have already set up an account at Portage Community Bank that can accept donations.”
The foundation will be similar to others that public schools throughout the state of Ohio are forming to help overcome what educators believe is an inadequate effort to fund public education. Locally, Aurora and Kent publiuc schools have foundations.
Shaker Heights has the oldest public school foundation in Ohio. Set up 42 years ago, the Shaker Schools Foundation, according to its president, attorney Carter Strang, has assets that have grown to more than $5 million and during its existence have provided more than $10 million in support of students and teachers funding programs not covered by tax dollars. One recent example is funding sewing machines for a program set up in collaboration with the Kent State School of Fashion. Shaker is a larger school district, but its foundation shows the potential that can accrue to a public school system.
An advantage of the foundation will be its ability to grow as funds are conservatively invested. This will help extend the life of scholarship money, which is often dedicated to the memory of someone.
Ravenna Superintendent Laura Hebert said the foundation is critical to the Ravenna district. Ravenna schools, she said, “are not fully funded by Ohio’s Fair Funding Act.” The additional money provided by the Ohio lottery and the casinos, she said, “amounts to $60 per student, a drop in the bucket.”
Citing medical insurance as one of the Ravenna School District’s major expenses, she noted that premium rates since 2005 have gone up by 163%. Base salaries for teaching and non-teaching staff since 2005 have risen only 40%, she said.
Despite tight finances, Hebert said Ravenna is undertaking important initiatives. The Ravenna Renaissance Scholar Program will provide personalized learning opportunities in the areas of art, business, and manufacturing/engineering. Students in the program will work in a cohort learning in each content area. They will also collaborate on an industry proposed issue and design and market a product to address the issue. The model, she said, is based on the Virginia Commonwealth University’s DaVinci Center focusing on works in the high school setting.
Ravenna also intends to beef up its Career and Tech Education offerings, especially the area of health services, she said. Ravenna would like to acquire a simulator ambulance for this program and perhaps someday the new foundation can help in initiatives like that. She said the foundation can also enrich the William R. Day Civics Institute’s curriculum. She said Ravenna would like to offer more advanced placement courses for Ravenna’s college-bound students and the foundation could help that effort.
The foundation has already received two donations totaling nearly $10,000 as word has spread on social media. Ferrell said the Foundation has adopted as its slogan, “Every Raven, Everywhere.”
Noting the bond that alumni often feel about the schools where they have received their education, Ferrell said the foundation will become an effective instrument for alumni who want to give back to Ravenna schools.
David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: New Ravenna schools foundation will help students achieve
