SCHOOL DISTRICTS TURN TO NONPROFIT FOUNDATIONS TO IMPROVE EDUCATION

Three area school districts will join a movement to improve educational opportunities for their students and teachers.

The Oak Ridge and Perryville school districts have established nonprofit school foundations, and Kelly's district officials are researching the idea of establishing a school foundation.

School officials say the foundations will raise money from local sources and alumni to improve school programs and facilities. The federally tax-exempt foundations benefit both schools and donors, officials say. "I think you'll see more of these because people would like to leave money to schools," said Dr. Stephen Doerr, Perryville's school superintendent. "This becomes a natural way for this to occur."Doerr said the school board created Foundation 32 in October to receive gifts and bequests and to provide financial support for enrichment programs and activities when other funding is unavailable."I think the intent here is to encourage and reward teachers on their initiative to carry out programs that aren't necessarily budgeted but enhance the educational opportunities of their students," said Orville Schaefer, Foundation 32 president.

Schaefer thinks more school foundations will be established in part because Missouri lawmakers rarely budget enough to fully fund the formula used to allocate state aid to schools. Additionally, he says, support is sometimes needed when tax levy increases or bond issues fail.

Such is the case in Benton, where in the past two years, voters rejected three bond issues that would have eased overcrowding in the schools. Rita Milam, school board vice president, said officials hope a foundation will raise money for a construction project.

Board members have been approached by a few people wanting to get something started, Milam said, adding: "They just feel like maybe there's people out there who might like to donate."The Oak Ridge School Foundation, just over a year old, was created to raise funds to buy band uniforms, establish scholarships and preserve historic documents. President Dan Sebaugh hopes the foundation will mimic the success of the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation."SEMO has done real well with theirs, and smaller schools are in need of that kind of support from their community," he said. "We just want to help out where things need to be helped out."