Dear Stevenson Elementary Friends & Families:

Thank you for all of your support last year.  Whether you donated money, silent auction & raffle items, made baked goods, served on a committee, or all of the above – thank you for all of your efforts!  Thanks to you and the support of our community, this year we are providing every child at Stevenson Elementary with:

• Dance instruction
• Arts education
• A renovated library
• Expansion of our school garden

As gratifying as this is, our work is not done.  We’re halfway through the current school year, and it’s time to start raising funds for the 2009-2010 school year.  And we have our work cut out for us because the news from Sacramento isn’t good….

• The California Teachers Association (CTA) is begging state lawmakers not to approve a $10.8 billion cut to public education.  “California recently sank to 47th in per-pupil funding, according to Education Week’s Quality Counts, a ranking that doesn’t even take into account the most recent round of budget cuts. This is completely unacceptable,” CTA President David A. Sanchez said in a statement.  (For more information, visit www.cta.org)
• The Education Coalition predicts that Burbank Unified School District will have to cut their budget by over $17.5 million. (For more information, visit www.protectourstudents.org)
• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed shortening the school year by five days to help lessen the state’s budget deficit. The proposal would shrink the school year to 175 days, making California one of the states requiring the fewest number of school days

We still don’t know how these cuts will impact our school, but we do know that this will put more pressure on our teachers and staff to do more with less, and it will put pressure on FFS & PTA to fill in the gaps and help our students continue to excel.  Yes, we must continue raising funds to support our mission of providing arts education at our school, but we also must be prepared to help wherever we can.

We are shaping the future of this world and it is up to us to insure that it is a better future.  Each day we have a choice to make – let the news of the day get us down OR focus our attention on how we can make things better.  We can choose to accept state budget cuts OR we can choose to raise the money our school needs to offer dance and arts instruction, and so much more.  Please support our fundraising efforts for the 2009-2010 school year by making a tax-deductible financial contribution.  (FFS Taxpayer ID# 56-2284271)

Donations may be left in the school office.  Please complete and include the form below with your contribution.  Thank you!

Carrie Brown
President, Families for Stevenson

If you would like additional copies of this information to share with family members, friends, & co-workers, please contact me via email – or send them a link to this article!

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES – STEVENSON ROCKS!
Our annual Stevenson Rocks! Concert & Silent Auction fundraiser will be Friday, May 8th. We are collecting silent auction and raffle items and hope you will support our students by donating cash, goods and/or services for our silent auction and raffle. To thank you for supporting our school, we will provide you with opportunities to promote your business to our Stevenson community.  If you have your own business and are interested in sponsoring our efforts, please consider these opportunities OR share this information with your employer.  [DOWNLOAD SPONSORSHIP FORM]

SPECIAL SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
There are additional projects at Stevenson Elementary needing corporate sponsors including playground shade structures, an instrumental music program, auditorium renovation, and more.  If you are interested in learning more about these special sponsorship opportunities, please contact FFS President Carrie Brown.

Families For Stevenson Annual Donation Drive

All donations will be gratefully acknowledged on our Stevenson Pirates website. To ensure that your donation is listed correctly, please complete this form and return it with your check in the envelope provided. Please make your check payable to: Families For Stevenson.
Name (as you would like it listed on our website):

Student(s) Name(s) and Grade(s):

_______________________________________________________________________________

Phone: _______________________  Email: __________________________________________

Amount of donation: ____________________________________________________________