Ep 178 | Public education: Funding the future!

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We provide $100,000 in grants every year to go to schools for projects that would not be otherwise funded. We have a flagship program called Tools for Teachers that supplies 3,000 educators in Escambi County with free classroom supplies for their students.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. They say that money makes the world go round, and the public school system is no exception. In Escambia County, however, it is exceptional. As of 2026, the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation is in their 40th year of enhancing education by investing in students and teachers. My next guest is the executive director of the foundation, and today she's going to share behind the scenes what it has contributed to our community and why it matters. Uniting resources and ideas, solving problems and raising money, Woodham High School graduate Joe MacArthur. Thanks for being here. Thanks, Meredith, for having me. Delighted to be here today. You're like, what is this, fourth time back on the show? You're a pro. You're pro. Okay, so I thought we could open up with a little thought experiment that sort of paints the picture of an alternate life, an alternate universe, if you will. So if there were no Escambi County Public School Foundation and no community donations, how would our school district be different?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

That's a hard question and hard to answer in so many ways because the old, I guess it's not that old, but the the quote, uh, it takes a village, it truly does. And in an economically disadvantaged county like Escambia County, it takes corporate, individual grant money, all kinds of funding sources to help supplement what we get from the state and the federal government to educate children in our county. They come to school without supplies. They come to school without always great support from home. And any resources we can provide on top of what we get through the state and federal government are what put us in a better place to educate. The foundation in particular has experienced tremendous growth in the last three and a half years and 2024-25 school year. The foundation put $1.3 million back into schools to teachers, to departments, to students, and to employees in Escambi County. And outside of that, many corporations throughout the area contributed in many ways, time, talent, and treasure, Navy Federal BM1 specifically. That's just one example that show up in other platforms other than through the foundation. We provide $100,000 in grants every year to go to schools for projects that would not be otherwise funded. We have a flagship program called Tools for Teachers that supplies 3,000 educators in Escambi County with free classroom supplies for their students. So it's really almost half a million dollars with stuff that went out to schools. So that makes a huge difference in the lives of teachers and students.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Absolutely. And what I'm extracting from what you're saying is without these extra resources, which we need because of the dynamics, the economic dynamics of our county. So we have like a little bit more need. You know how you might say growing up, there's more month than money. Right. Like we have more needs than money. Absolutely. So we need something to fill that gap. But without it, it sounds like there would be a trickle-down effect that the kids would be hungry. So they wouldn't be learning as well. They might have more behaviors, which means they don't launch into the real quote unquote real world with as much as which with as many assets that they need to be a functioning member of society.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

It it layers it evens out the playing field for kids that don't come to school with a backpack full of supplies that mom and dad were able to purchase. And that's just one of our programs. The Grants for Excellent programs allows teachers in schools and departments to do things that aren't otherwise funded. We encourage collaboration, imagination, creativity. How can we address something, maybe a concept that's hard to teach? How can we do it in a different way that kids are grasping that? And it's all based, we measure all results, we collect data on outcomes so that we know for sure that it's working. That program is part of the Florida State matching grant program through the Florida legislature. And 50,000 of it comes from that. And then we match 50,000 of that with money that we raise through fundraisers and corporate and individual donations. And this year we gave away 20 grants, like a month ago. We gave away $100,213. And that went to 10 elementary schools, two middle schools, four high schools, and four departments, including two in our exceptional education that I'm really proud of. I think this is pretty cool. One of them is for the deaf and hard of hearing department. They never applied for a grant. And the other one is for the district extended project, which is for students that age out of the school system, but they are disabled. And it's a business transition program that can extend up to two extra years. So they got some money to help support that program. So it's that kind of stuff just pulls at your heartstrings. We're helping so many students learn in a different way.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

So how do you decide as a foundation what outcomes to focus on?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

We're part of a consortium of Florida Education Foundations, which all of the education foundations, 61 of them, I think is the number, across the state are bel belong to our consortium. And they lobby for us, they provide us grant opportunities, that kind of thing. Well, the state matching grant program comes through that organization, and they require, as part of our membership, that we work with our local school district, that we consult with them, and that our strategic plan and initiatives align with those of the school system that we support. We are a 501c3 direct support organization, which means that we have to align with what the school district is trying to accomplish. So I meet with Denny Wilson, who's the superintendent of education curriculum and instruction. I meet with Mr. Leonard, our superintendent. I meet with principals and students and level directors and say, what areas do you need us to focus on? Is this in alignment with what you need? We try to do that on a regular basis. And I think we're pretty collaborative and well partnered with the district in so many cool ways that it's just been really productive for the district and for our foundation. And it's most importantly the students and teachers of Scamie County.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Okay, I was just gonna say that it's not just productive for the students, but I feel like it's really productive for the teachers also. And what you mentioned earlier kind of supports that because you were talking about how like tools for teachers. It's really for kids. Right, right. But happy teachers makes happy kids. Absolutely. It's like the school version if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Like we need teachers to be not burned out, to feel supported, to have rapport. So, what other things does the foundation do to lift those special community members up?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Well, on that topic about tools for teachers in particular, some of our initial goals when you talk to Dave Gardner and I were teacher retention, teacher morale, making them feel valued. And I have a couple of quotes I'd like to share. We did a survey at the end of the last school year. One of the teachers said this program is needed. No other job requires requires 12 to 20 little humans to need so much and to come to school with so little. Tools for teachers is a program that helps restore the motivation and drive of why a person would teach to give back. Like that is, I mean, I have goosebumps myself reading that. Another one says, Thank you for giving me the tools to do my job. I was gonna have to pay out of my own pocket for certain supplies this year, but the tools for teachers helped me so I didn't have to do it that as much. This grant was a huge help and a huge morale booster. Someone actually cares. So that is so cool to me. Another thing that we do that's pretty big program that we don't talk about a lot is employee appreciation. We are made up of almost 6,000 employees. And from the people that cut the grass to the HVAC workers, to the custodial staff, to the lunchroom, to the carpenters, to the people in the administrative buildings that are pushing numbers all day, they're not in the classroom. And they don't often get a thank you or we appreciate you. So we spend about $50,000 a year on employee appreciation, where we thank every single employee. Thank you for what you do. You are appreciated, and you are an important cog in this wheel we call public education in Skimy County. We did a gift for them last year at the holidays that every single employee got one, a thank you. We provide the retiree luncheon. We do holiday lunches for administrative buildings and departments. Things come up throughout the year. We may have Mr. Softy ice cream show up and at an administration building in the middle of the summer when all of us are work that are working 12 months really need a little break. Things like that, just to a feel good and thank you for what you do. I think that's really important. And I do think it helps with morale and more uh retention.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And like I said, it filters down. It filters down. It absolutely does. I'm wondering about the people listening to us right now. I'm assuming just from like a selection bias that they probably really care about uh students, they care about the teachers. But I have, and I think you have too, heard people say, why should I care about this? I don't have kids, or why should I care about this? My kids are grown. And so I wanted to give you an opportunity to kind of address why these extra funds and why this foundation matters for the person who doesn't have children.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

That is easy question to answer. We're preparing tomorrow's workforce. So if you were to go to the doctor today, ask where your student, that your nurse, went to school. Did they go to school in Escabie County? Did they get a certification at a career and technical program while before they graduated? Did they go to work straight out of high school because they got the tools they needed there? The goal, I think, most of us that love Pensacola is to educate kids and give them opportunities to stay in Pensacola, to stay here and create a community that we all love to live in and work and play in. Crime rates are affected by education, property values. If we don't have great schools, which by the way, we do have great schools, they that affects the value of their property. They're going to go to the county next door because they think the county next door has better schools. Well, we're actually a B-graded school district. And considering the population of almost 40,000 kids that are disadvantaged, a ton of them, we do a really good job at Esgamy County and we don't talk enough about the good things that happen. And that's the fun part of my job is I know I make a difference every day and changing the lives of students. I may not be able to see it directly because I'm not in the classroom. I'm usually in the community asking for money or doing a fundraiser or something or running one of these programs. But I know that I'm making a difference and that warms my heart.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I love the exercise opportunity that you just gave everyone to ask people when you're out and about doing life, hey, where'd you get where'd you graduate from high school? Uh-huh. Because it's, I mean, it's a question that I always ask everyone that comes on the show because I think it's really cool when someone did graduate, like you from a CM. Right. But I think it kind of paints the the picture for like the average person of the influence that's out there. It's huge. And it's really fun to give people a chance to brag on teachers. There's two guys that were helping me at my house delivering some furniture. And I said, Where'd y'all go to high school? And because sometimes those um delivery companies are farmed out and they're they're from Louisiana or whatever. So and I didn't know that. But these guys happen to be local and they were so happy to tell me that they graduated from Booker T, Washington, and they told me about their favorite teacher. And it was just like such a moment. And I thought, wow, what a what a great thing to do. But I didn't think of it as a regular exercise until you just suggested that just now. So thank you for that. That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

When I take my dad to the Dodger, he's 90 years old. He asked every person that talks to him, where'd you go to school? Where'd you go to nursing school? He gets their whole life story. And he's always amazed at how many of them are from Pensacola and work their way up either straight from high school or went to school at Pensacola State, a local school or something like that. He that's pride for him. He was born here and has been here 90 years. So, I mean, I've watched him do that and see that happen so many times. It is pretty cool. And the guy that packs your groceries is probably a student at a local high school that's trying to get through school and help pay for bills at home. Yeah. So yeah, it's it we have a far reach. And I am smiling right now if you can't see me, but I am very passionate about what I do in education in our foundation. And we have a board that's about 22 leaders in the community, and that brings a very wide reach and understanding of our mission at the foundation and helps like the Tools for Teachers relies completely on volunteers to pack those supplies to go out to teachers. We're talking last school year, 34,897 supplies were packed and distributed to schools, and volunteers pack those. How cool is that?

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

And a lot of those come from contacts from our board.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

I was looking at the board list from the annual report that you sent me, and I'm so thankful that you sent that because ignorantly I was like, oh yeah, Joe, that is the Escambi County Public Schools Foundation. It's Joe. It's you. Well, no, there we're it's it takes a lot of us. Right, right, right, right. Well, but for like an outsider like me, I mean, that's all I know. And so I I think it's helpful for people to understand that this money has like a a team of people stewarding it.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

And a a large scope of perspectives that help to funnel the the initiatives that you're focusing on.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

We have a very engaged board. You would most people will probably rec recognize at least half the names on our board. And last last year, we had two chronically ill members, and we still at board meetings had 80% attendance. And for our events through the year, we do fundraising events, we do all kind of stuff, and it was a 100%. Like no board that I've ever been on has that kind of engagement. These people care about public education and they show up. I do feed them lunch, but I do think it's important if they are giving their time. These are leaders in the community. If they're giving an hour to come to a meeting or an hour and a half, if they can have their lunch at that time too and still get get back to work at a decent time, I just think that's a little bit I can give to incentivize them to come to the meetings. But it works. It's they're not coming for the food, they're coming because they care about education.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Yeah. Well, and you're making it accessible for them to plug in and then also experience real life. I have one more money question before we we move on from that topic. Because we often hear about the percentage of money that's donated to charitable organizations. The percentage that actually goes to the cause tends to be a little lower than people would like.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Can you share what the percentage? I'm so glad you asked me this question. And most people don't realize this because I've done a lot of research around it to kind of understand it myself. Because when I took this job, I had been on foundations and boards, but I didn't really know that. So I I looked into it. The average, if you give to a nonprofit, their average administrative fee that they take, 10% is a good average. Usually they're between 8 and 12. The administration fee we take, and we don't take it on all donations. We there's exceptions if it's a particular program, we don't, but in general, it's 3%. That's what we're doing. Which doesn't even cover the overhead of our office. And I'm I'm the only full-time employee. My other three staff members, a program manager, a bookkeeper, and uh my assistant, are a part-time job because it it's I want to be a good steward of people's money and paying people to work is not what people are donating money to do. They're donating money to administer the program. So a lot of that administrative fees pays for, say, boxes to pack tools for teachers or stickers to put on those teacher boxes, or the actual grant platform, so software we have to purchase to manage that. That I just think that's so important and people understand that it's a very low percentage. And I want most of all people to know that we are good stewards of their money and that our goal is to help education in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah. I mean, that's where the passion comes from. Oh, yeah. If it was a bloated organization that didn't make a difference, I don't think you would be here for four times, four times guest. Like you're you're passionate about it because it's working. And so on that note, can you share the easiest way for listeners to donate to the cause?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Absolutely. The easiest way is text foundation to eight ferocine. That's eight five zero nine through nine nine. They can text foundation. If the tools for teachers program in particular is of interest to them, we don't collect stuff. We collect funds because we can buy it at a third of the cost because we buy in wholesale. Um so you text Tools, T-O-O-L-S Tools, to the same phone number, 850-930-9939. We're also easily accessible on the school district website. So if you go to EscambiaSchools.org, if you're a parent or an employee, you do that probably all the time. On the landing page, there's a foundation logo if you that's linked directly to our webpage. And there's lots of ways to donate there too.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing this. This was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I love outreach and helping people understand who we are and what we do, and you helped me do that. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambia County Public Schools.