It has been said that teaching is the noblest of all professions. Certainly we can all think of teachers in our past who inspired us, helped us become who we are, and made the world a better place.
One of the great challenges to education in our time is funding. There are so many demands on funding for our schools, so many competing interests – public utilities, roads, the fire and police departments, administration, and on. Enter the Ashland Schools Foundation.
The Ashland Schools Foundation was established in 1989 in anticipation of a significant decrease in funding for public schools. Its initial goal was to enhance the quality of public education. Ashland is known for its high quality public schools, and these schools consistently rank amongst the top for academic achievements. The Foundation has certainly been successful in fulfilling its initial goal.
As time has passed and funding sources and amounts have continued to change, the mission of the Ashland Schools Foundation has evolved to one of preserving and maintaining the quality education programs that Ashland schools have become known for in this community.
The Foundation and the Ashland School District are two independent organizations that work cooperatively for a common goal – providing a high quality public education for our students. The District is involved in policy-making and governance of the schools and the programs that support the schools. The Foundation is a non-governmental organization created by community members, who serve to support and augment the efforts of the District, to provide an extraordinary education system.
The Ashland community has supported the Ashland Schools Foundation with an average of $250,000 in donations per year since 2002. The donations are being concentrated on core educational support to help create strong teacher – student relationships by decreasing class sizes. This helps teachers have greater opportunity to reach their students, lifting and building them up.
Please take some time and visit the Ashland Schools Foundation website here to learn more about the great efforts they are making at preserving top-notch education for the Ashland community.
And join Today’s Dentistry on Saturday, October 31 for the 7th Annual Monster Dash, a run to benefit the Ashland Schools Foundation. See the back cover for more details.
Thanks for all you do, Ashland!
100 Walker Ave.
Ashland, OR. 97520
(541) 482-8197
