Questions and Answers

What does YES actually fund in the district? What part of YES programs does the district fund?
Click here for a link to the YES budget. In addition to what’s listed here, the district pays for middle school music enrichment.

How does YES determine what they’ll support?
YES recently completed a community survey to make sure funded programs reflect parent priorities. That survey will be the basis for budget decisions in June. Traditionally, YES has funded art and music because the community believes and ongoing research confirms that a rich art, music and theater program enhances and improves learning in the classroom. Click here to see an overview of the Program responses to the survey.

Why doesn’t YES just ask the community for more money?
YES programs have been growing over the last seven years and YES contributions have grown 15% a year. But the Foundation has remained sensitive to how we ask the community for money. Currently, only half of district parents contribute to the Foundation, which means the potential for substantially increased revenue is strong. Our year-end report, pledge mailer, YES News that is sent with site newsletters every other week, Friends of YES classroom emails and signage, are all reminders that YES cannot provide programs and district support without contributions from the community.

Why are other foundations in Marin able to raise more money from their communities?
YES is one of the youngest foundations in the county and continues to help parents understand what is funded and what the school day would look like without YES. The YES Board explores new approaches to helping parents understand how crucial their contributions are and has developed Friends of YES and classroom participation charts in an effort to encourage families to participate. There are also variations in community income that reflect differences in foundation fundraising. Currently, less than half of all district families participate, which is substantially lower than other county foundations.

Do foundations in other districts fund curriculum?
There are some foundations in Marin that contribute to their district’s general fund. Others are similar to YES in funding specific programs. The Ross Valley community has indicated in multiple surveys the strong interest in critical enrichment programs to ensure a multi-faceted, high-quality education for K-8 students.

Are these monies intended to be a direct response to the budget crisis?
YES is eager to assist the district during the state's budget cuts, and we hope to generate enough additional revenue to help alleviate some district expenses, but the YES Board's first obligation is to make sure the Foundation meets projected budget needs for 2007-08. Any revenue over budget will be used to help the district in ways that align with our vision/mission/values and will take into consideration feedback we received from our recent YES Community Survey. Additionally, YES will only fund programs that we can fund on a sustainable basis or until the district can resume responsibility.

If so, and it is assumed that its a one-time focus, where is the money being applied specifically?
The YES Board is working with district to determine the best options for YES to potentially fund. The YES Board will consider those programs that are aligned with the Foundations vision/mission/values and those programs which serve the greatest number of kids.

If not, what specific programs and staff/teachers, etc. is it intended to support, and for how long? E.g., what is it willing to be responsible for from this point forward?
YES only funds staff/teachers under the auspices of specific programs, never classroom staff. What YES might fund and for how long is to be determined.

How far will this commitment ($) go towards meeting any of the districts costs? (offsetting proposed cuts) are these targeted already, so we know that we won't be truly cutting specific areas (due to this safety net?)
The YES Board will first fund the Foundation's budget obligations for 2007-08. After that, funding will be determined based what we can sustainably fund or until the district can resume funding. We can only make commitments based on what the parent community contributes over our projected budget expenses and will need to feel confident that we can continue to raise funds to meet future years commitments.

Some are concerned that state funding will be reduced or negatively impacted if the Foundation assumes a larger role and, as I understand, doing so would require some significant changes in the Foundations original charter and mission?
The state does not fund districts based on individual circumstances. They fund based on a standard formula for all revenue-limit districts. YES was founded with the intention of specifically filling the gap between what the state funds and what the community valued as high quality education. YES has never deviated from that mission, and, in the face of the Governors budget proposal, the gap is temporarily widening. YES will continue to fill as much of this gap as is made possible by parent and community support and our business partners. The YES Foundation is only as strong as its parent community and business partner.