President's Message

Dear Eureka Union School District Community,

Welcome back to the 2011-2012 school year. While the school year is off to a good start for our students, our district is starting off the year with less money to work with within their budget. As you well know, the State of California continues to cut funding to our public education system each year. In our local district, declining enrollment compounds these cuts as EUSD continues to receive less funding per student than most of our neighboring districts. As a result, the Eureka Union School District is once again facing financial challenges that will impact our children’s education and the community in general.

This is where the Eureka Schools Foundation (ESF) comes in. ESF was founded 20 years ago by a group of parents with the foresight to ensure that the quality education that their children were receiving would be sustained through the good times and bad. ESF is a private fundraising foundation that strives to bridge the gap between what the State of California gives our school district and what the schools need to provide our children with a well-rounded quality education. Since it’s founding, ESF has raised over $5,000,000. That money goes directly to the Eureka Union School District and the children in our community for enrichment programs and staff; specifically librarians, computer technology and technology teachers, foreign language, music and athletics. There are no state funds for these programs and positions. Without ESF, our children will go without these key elements to their education.

The reality is that offering our children a robust, quality education takes money. The Eureka Union School District is one of the top performing school districts in the state, and has been for many years. Our test scores are extremely high and are part of the culture and pride of our community. Many families have moved into our district because of our excellent schools. Due to the unprecedented financial challenges we consistently face, our district remains at risk of looking like many other districts in California: larger class sizes, more school closures, no enrichment programs for students, lower test scores and lay-off notices to valuable teachers.

Therefore, I ask that every family in our district consider making a financial contribution to our schools. Please put your child’s education first and donate to ESF today. Simply click the “DONATE NOW” button to the right, to make your tax deductible donation today. Without the involvement and support of virtually every district family, these problems will not be solved and our children’s education will suffer.

I hope you will browse our website to learn more about ESF and the programs we fund, and most importantly, how you can get involved as a volunteer, or attend one of our many fundraising events.

I welcome your questions and comments.

Sincerely,

Warren Holt
Wholt13@aol.com
President, Eureka Schools Foundation