By Lookout Staff

April 27, 2012 -- If it takes money to make money, the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation got what it takes Tuesday night when the City Council voted 5 to 0 to give the non-profit $250,000 to help it raise money to fund more school programs.

The donation will help fund education arts, academic and athletic programs at all district schools and allow the foundation to hire more staff to boost its fundraising role under the District's new centralized fundraising policy that takes effect in July 2013.

"The Education Foundation has worked to enhance the quality of public education in our community for 30 years, and the City is extremely supportive of the work they do," said Mayor Richard Bloom. 
 
The City previously gave the foundation $250,000 to support the group's endowment for arts education, helping it raise $2.1 million to support music, visual arts, dance and drama programs. The balance of the $500,000 pledge will expand the effort to other programs.

"While we are fundraising right now for our current slate of academic, art and athletic programs, we are also raising funds and building the infrastructure we'll need to fulfill our expanded role in the not too distant future," said Linda Greenberg Gross, the foundation's executive director.

"The City of Santa Monica's donation gives us a terrific boost to help us get there," said Greenberg Gross.

The donation, said School Superintendent Sandra Lyon, will help provide "equal access to educational opportunities for all our students" under the new centralized fundraising policy.

Approved last November, the policy bars Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) from raising money to pay for teachers or other personnel as well as “premium programs” at specific schools.

Instead, the Education Foundation helps raise and redistribute the money to all the schools in the district. The policy does not affect donations for school supplies or other materials, like computers.