Your Questions Answered
Tritt Tiger Foundation – April 2010

Q: How will the Tritt Tiger Foundation invest 2009-2010 parent donations?

Thanks to the generous support of Tritt parents, the Tritt Tiger Foundation has raised over $95,000 during the 2009-2010 school year campaign. The Foundation is committed to investing donations in ways that benefit all Tritt students as well as continue to maintain and enhance the excellent education at Tritt Elementary. In order to do just that, the Foundation is currently waiting for the Cobb County Board of Education Budget decisions (due June 9, 2010) before deciding in which programs and improvements to invest. The Foundation has been developing a list of immediate curriculum enhancements, technology investments, and facility improvements that can be made with our funds as soon as we have knowledge of what the school needs due to budget cuts.

Q: What salaries might the Foundation be able to cover in the event of budget cuts (e.g. music teacher, computer teacher, nurse, etc.)?

The Tritt Tiger Foundation has been the sole source of the computer lab and science lab instructor salaries, as well as lab expenses and supplies, for the past 5 years. School Foundations are allowed to invest funds in employee and teacher salaries, in addition to curriculum, technology or facility needs.

Q: Is the Foundation able to supplement for any teacher or staff furlough days?

Since School Foundations have very general guidelines for expenditures, the Tritt Tiger Foundation would be able to invest funds in any way that benefits our school. It is our primary goal to invest parent donations in ways that benefit every student at Tritt. Supplementing teacher salaries is an option, but this option would be weighed against any other curriculum, program or facility needs that the school has.

Q: Will the Tritt Tiger Foundation continue to pay a portion of the class fee for the Spanish After School Enrichment Program?

No, the Tritt Tiger Foundation will not continue to pay a portion of the Spanish class fee beginning August 2010. At the April 2010 Board meeting, the Tritt Tiger Foundation Board voted to eliminate the funding that reduced the Spanish ASEP class fee from $140 per student to $30 per student. The factors that made this decision were:

1. The Spanish after school class subsidy was paid for by funds raised the previous year for the in-school Spanish program.
2. The Tritt Tiger Foundation wants to ensure that parent donations are invested in programs that benefit all Tritt students.
3. In light of the future deep budget cuts at the County level, the Tritt Tiger Foundation will be investing parent donations in basic school wide programs to maintain Tritt’s high quality of education.

Q: Since School District SPLOST funds are being used to purchase and install new 21st Century classroom technology in all classrooms at Tritt (ACTIVBoards and projectors),what has happened to older technology that the Tritt Foundation had purchased with parent donations?

The ACTIVBoards and projectors purchased by the Tritt Tiger Foundation are still in use at Tritt. Each ACTIVBoard is installed and in use. Some projectors have been re-assigned as portable projectors (vs. installed) and are available to any teachers to use. SPLOST funds have been used to install 21st Century Classroom projectors in each remaining classroom, and will have ACTIVBoards installed in all classrooms by the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.