KISD School Board Approves Memorandum of Understanding with Education Foundation

John Pape · July 24, 2012 · Schools News ·

With little discussion, the Katy ISD Board of Trustees approved a memorandum of understanding with the Katy ISD Education Foundation, clearing the way for the foundation to begin fundraising activities on behalf of the district.

Dr. Bill Proctor was the only trustee to pose a question, asking Superintendent Alton Frailey about the foundation’s use of “Katy ISD” in its name.

Proctor asked if, at some future date, the district decided to cease its relationship with the foundation, would the district have the authority to remove its name from the nonprofit.

Frailey said that it would.

With no further questions or comments from trustees, the board voted 6-1 to approve the memorandum document. Trustee Terry Huckaby cast the sole “no” vote.

While there was little discussion about the new memorandum of understanding during Monday’s school board meeting, the proposed document was the subject of a 40-plus minute discussion during last week’s work study session. During that meeting, Foundation President Chris Crockett discussed the new memorandum with trustees at length.

During the work study session, Crockett told trustees the foundation could tap into financial resources currently unavailable to the district.

“One of the great things a foundation can do is bridge that gap and allow innovation to be financed,” Crockett said. “We’re at a time where we face unprecedented challenges in terms of state funding, we’re lucky if they give us the money to actually do what you all had told us to do, much less anything innovative in the way of a pilot project. A foundation can provide the funds for funding innovation.”

Crockett also said such foundations were not new, having first been developed as far back as the 1970s.

“There are a lot of foundations in this area, but we have not had one until recently,” she said.

Crockett also said there were more than 4,800 such foundations around the United States serving school systems ranging from urban to rural, and from large to small. She noted the one thing all the foundations had in common was that they existed to “serve as a bridge between the (school) district’s strategic plan and the community’s desires.”

She also said the foundation was “more than a fundraising body.” Such organizations can also “achieve positive public relations” and could be used to “engage the community in ongoing improvement” and seek additional grant funding that is not currently available to school districts,” she explained.

Crockett also pointed out that the creation of a foundation was “a long-standing goal of the board of trustees” and had been one of the first directives given to Frailey when he was hired by the district.

Crockett told the board the new memorandum of understanding had been developed based on the board’s concerns from last November. She said “drastic” changes had been made.

The changes included greater autonomy of the foundation without as strong a “link” to the school district, the removal of the district-funded executive director position and moving the superintendent and board liaison to non-voting, advisory status on the foundation’s board. Additionally, the school administration has the option of appointing a liaison to the foundation to serve as a “contact point.”

The foundation’s proposed first-year budget calls for $133,000 of “in-kind” contributions from the district, with an equal or greater amount being raised by the foundation. The goal, trustees were told, was to annually decrease the school district’s contribution while increasing foundation-raised money to a point where the foundation would be able to fund school projects.

Frailey stressed the school district’s contribution would be in-kind services only, and “not a check we’re writing to the foundation.”

The foundation’s planned initial activities include a “founder’s campaign,” fundraising activities such as a golf or fishing tournament and seeking grant funding.

Crockett stressed the foundation does not plan to use its money to pay for “building buildings and providing hardware.”

“We would not want to spend money on something that the school district is already spending money on,” she said.

Monday night’s approval of the memorandum document proved to be significantly different from the foundation’s first effort to gain board endorsement. When first introduced last year, the proposed agreement ran into a buzzsaw of opposition as trustees peppered then-Executive Director Marcy Canady and then-Foundation President Pete Gavrel with questions.

A number of trustees objected to the extremely close relationship the agreement created between the supposedly independent foundation and the district.

In the months since the initial agreement was presented, Canady stepped down from the executive director post to become principal of McRoberts Elementary School. Gavrel resigned as foundation president.

Crockett, a former Katy ISD board member, was elected president last month. The executive director position was eliminated.