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Two local education foundations are teaming up to encourage residents to donate to local elementary and middle schools in Mountain View and Los Altos, with a goal of promoting philanthropy and ensuring high quality public education.

The Los Altos Education Foundation (LAEF), along with the Mountain View Education Foundation (MVEF), declared May 10 as the “Stand UP For Public Schools” day, where community members and local businesses are encouraged to donate to school districts and learn more about the role of education foundations in filling funding gaps left by the state.

Anyone interested in donating during the event can go to the fundraiser website. The page allows for donations to both education foundations.

Funding for California’s public schools is inadequate and falls well behind other states in the country, according to a joint statement by the MVEF and LAEF this week. A report called “Quality Counts 2016,” which is published by Education Week, found that California ranks 41 out of 50 states when it comes to financing public schools.

“For many years, LAEF and MVEF have raised donations to bridge the gap between shrinking state funding and the true cost of providing an outstanding educational experience for all children,” according to the statement.

The May 10 event will include a “Twitter Party” hosted by district administrators for both school districts from noon to 1 p.m. Members of the community can join by using the hashtag #SU4PS2017.

Kevin Forestieri is the editor of Mountain View Voice, joining the company in 2014. Kevin has covered local and regional stories on housing, education and health care, including extensive coverage of Santa...

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  1. What are the public schools doing to educate students about how power corrupts in America and around the world? With Trump’s firing of the FBI Director amid an invedtigation of Trump’s entanglements with Russia, will the public schools now start offering Russian as a foreign language elective or should learning Russian be mandatory?

  2. Both these foundations do a good job in polling parents and their boards on what are the priorities of the school communities, and only donating to the programs that fulfill those priorities. Clear and concise, with boards shifting funding around as the discussions change year to year.

    I will be filling my old person’s parcel tax exemption, just so I can take the money this year and donate it to the appropriate educational foundation. A Thousand Points of light? Here are two, from the dozens that support our community. Join me in donating, even if your kids are not in a local school system, or if you are not even parents.

  3. The last poster claims he or she will get out of paying a parcel tax and donate that money to some private educational foundation. Tell us more. How can we learn about how such organizations spend money received?

  5. Greg,

    Thank you for asking. (Thank you to donor-not parent for giving the web links).

    I am Liza and I am a Board Member for the Mountain View Educational Foundation (MVEF). Here is our website address: http://www.mvef.org
    If you look under Programs you can see an overview of what we fund for the students of the Mountain View Whisman School District.

    For the Los Altos Educational Foundation (LAEF), you can find the programs they fund on http://www.laefonline.net and look under the What We Do section.

    I would be happy to answer any questions about MVEF.
    Liza

  6. Public Hearing – Solar Power Purchase Agreement

    PUBLIC NOTICE

    NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on May 22, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. or as soon thereafter as practicable, at a scheduled public meeting of the Board of Trustees (“Board”) of the Los Altos School District, which will be held at the District Office located at 201 Covington Road, Los Altos, California 94024, the Board will consider entering into a solar power purchase agreement for the installation of photovoltaic systems on the property of the District. At this meeting, the Board will hold a public hearing on and consider a resolution to adopt findings required by Government Code section 4217.12 regarding anticipated energy cost savings and other benefits the District may receive if the Board decides to enter into the power purchase agreement. Any protest pertaining to the regularity or sufficiency of the proceedings shall be in writing and shall clearly set forth the irregularities and defects to which the objection is made. Any written protest shall be filed with the Clerk of the District on or before the time set for the hearing. The District may waive any irregularities in the form or content of any written notice and at the hearing may correct minor defects in the proceedings. Written protests may be withdrawn, in writing, at any time before the conclusion of the hearing. The resolution, agreement and supporting documents will be included with the Board’s regular public agenda for the May 22, 2017 meeting.

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