Small triumphs.
Today I spent an hour calling people and asking them for money. I have gotten involved in the efforts of the brand-new school foundation* to raise enough money to pay for staffing for some small scrap of a music program. We're shooting for a half-time position, though it's extremely unlikely we'll get there. However, we have raised about $13,000 so far, which I think is actually pretty awesome considering half the kids at the school get reduced-price/free lunch, the foundation only started fundraising a few weeks ago, and all the families have been asked all year to pony up for stuff like school supplies, playground balls, field trips, PTA fundraisers and direct donation drives, etc. So I called people. Talking on the phone is not my favorite thing, and asking people for stuff makes me feel sick to my stomach, so I felt pretty much like throwing up the whole time. But I did it. Nobody gave me their credit card numbers on the spot, but several people said they plan to donate,** and nobody yelled at me, so I consider the experience a huge success.
I also helped organize a letter-writing event last week after school, in which participants used our talking points and materials to write their own letters to legislators about the need to reform school funding at the state level. It was a good event,*** though also kind of sad. People kept looking up and asking things like "Hey, how do you spell 'appalling'? How about 'hopeless'?" The legislator who attended (it's her district) was very pessimistic about the prospects of any kind of improvement, given the refusal of Republicans to entertain any discussion of revenue reform. Actually, what I was told by somebody who knows more about this stuff than I do was that the pension expenses should be under control in about 15 years, at which point the spending on schools will immediately improve, barring social collapse.**** So after Dutch and Skipper are done with their public schooling, things might look up a bit.
Anyway. That's why I've been doing all this asking. It's very tiring, but I'm trying not to feel hopeless.
*I hate the idea of school communities fundraising from their own pockets to pay for stuff. There are deep-pocketed schools that support multiple FTEs through fundraising, and others who have no foundation at all. But I don't want our school to keep losing enrollment, and I don't want any kids at the school to go without music. So I decided to start participating in the foundation effort AND the legislative reform stuff, in an effort to feel less awful about the foundation fundraising.
**At that point a good fundraiser would ask them to pledge to donate a specific (high) amount, but I'm a terrible fundraiser, so I just said "Great!"
*** There were bubbles!
**** My disclaimer for most statements about the future.
I also helped organize a letter-writing event last week after school, in which participants used our talking points and materials to write their own letters to legislators about the need to reform school funding at the state level. It was a good event,*** though also kind of sad. People kept looking up and asking things like "Hey, how do you spell 'appalling'? How about 'hopeless'?" The legislator who attended (it's her district) was very pessimistic about the prospects of any kind of improvement, given the refusal of Republicans to entertain any discussion of revenue reform. Actually, what I was told by somebody who knows more about this stuff than I do was that the pension expenses should be under control in about 15 years, at which point the spending on schools will immediately improve, barring social collapse.**** So after Dutch and Skipper are done with their public schooling, things might look up a bit.
Anyway. That's why I've been doing all this asking. It's very tiring, but I'm trying not to feel hopeless.
*I hate the idea of school communities fundraising from their own pockets to pay for stuff. There are deep-pocketed schools that support multiple FTEs through fundraising, and others who have no foundation at all. But I don't want our school to keep losing enrollment, and I don't want any kids at the school to go without music. So I decided to start participating in the foundation effort AND the legislative reform stuff, in an effort to feel less awful about the foundation fundraising.
**At that point a good fundraiser would ask them to pledge to donate a specific (high) amount, but I'm a terrible fundraiser, so I just said "Great!"
*** There were bubbles!
**** My disclaimer for most statements about the future.
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