YES Says No to Gala, Braces for School Budget Shortfall

As the Ross Valley School District faces the grim possibility of deeper cuts to its budget, the YES! Foundation is looking to step up to the plate, even as it grapples with its own challenges.

 The YES! Foundation, an organization that aims to raise supplementary funds for music, art and other programs in the Ross Valley School District, is currently seeing a 12-13 percent decline in its participation rate. “It’s the economy,” Julie Quater, the foundation’s administrator, said simply. “People are feeling strapped and are cutting back.” She noted that the organization is currently in the middle of its campaign, so that number will fluctuate a bit until May.

Meanwhile, the foundation has canceled its annual gala at the Marin Center, an event that typically raises approximately $60,000. Quater said the gala will now happen every other year rather than annually to help it retain volunteers. “We had volunteer burn-out,” she said. “No matter what we did, we could not recruit the number of volunteers to plan it.” The group instead is directing people to its virtual gala and auction. 

YES funds almost the entire art program in the Ross Valley School District and brings in 97 percent of the new library books to the schools. The group aims to ensure that children in kindergarten through eighth grade in the district receive an education that includes music, art, new library books, as well as theater and dance in the some of the grades. Beyond volunteer work, YES is the only way to support the schools, Quater said.

The good news is that those who haven’t been as affected by the economy have stepped up their contributions to the foundation. “Giving has actually gone up 7 percent in revenue—and that’s just family giving,” Quater said. The organization also receives donations through businesses and eScrip, which lets people contribute a percentage of their shopping bills from participating merchants to the foundation.  

The Ross Valley School District has been holding a over the past two months to address the $1.4 million in that it faces over the next three years—and that’s potentially just the minimum in cuts. If voters or the Legislature reject Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed state budget, which extensively leans on his proposal to extend tax increases, the district could see an additional nearly $2 million in cuts over the next three years. Meanwhile, property tax revenue in the district continues to drop.

With either budget cut scenario, the YES! Foundation is hoping it can rise to the challenge by additionally funding some programs, so that they won’t need to be eliminated. “We’ll be looking to alleviate some of the pressure on the district,” Quater said. The school district has “come up with their preliminary list of cuts, and we’re going to see what will be necessary in terms of giving.”

As it awaits further state cuts, the foundation is looking to ramp up its businesses supporting schools program, and it’s hoping to get more people to frequent the businesses that support YES. It’s also developing a so-called strategic community campaign, whereby the foundation reaches out to people in the community who aren’t directly involved with the schools. The group’s next big fundraiser is a golf tournament on May 13 in San Geronimo.