History of the Rondout Valley Education Foundation

The idea for establishing an education foundation has a long history at Rondout Valley. It was discussed at the School Board level in 1996 via a presentation from an independent foundation development firm. One of the action plans that came about during development of the District’s Strategic Plan in 1998 resulted in research followed by a presentation to the board concerning the advantages that a school related foundation could bring to the district. At the Community/School Partnership Workshops in the Fall of 2003 support for creating a Foundation resulted in the formation of a Committee working to develop a plan for the Rondout Valley Education Foundation (RVEF).

School foundations are not a new idea.  School Districts around the state including Bronxville, Fayetteville-Manlius, Arlington, Clinton and Millbrook have benefited by their affiliation with education foundations. Nonetheless, those involved with the Rondout Valley Education Foundation are the first to bring this innovative idea to fruition in Ulster County distinguishing the Rondout Valley School Community as one interested in continuing its tradition of community support and visionary thinking that brought the district together over 50 years ago.

Federal, state and regional demands on the schools have created enormous pressures regarding the services required for both the students and employees of school districts. At the same time, federal funding has decreased and state funding has not increased sufficiently to support these demands. The result is a shifting of resources that sometimes leave smaller, innovative, but not mandated programs in annual jeopardy. Competing demands for funding from the same resource pool continue to have an impact on program development and maintenance of exceptional initiatives. It is in this economic environment, that resources other than those provided by federal, state and local taxes may be needed to provide all that our community wants for its students. Such resources can be provided by school district affiliation with an education foundation.

The Rondout Valley Education Foundation has been established to provide alternative funding to enhance educational opportunities for the children of the Rondout Valley Central School District. The Foundation was incorporated in November of 2005 and received its status as a public charity under federal 501(c)(3) guidelines in January of 2007.