After 4J budreceive cuts, Eugene Education Foundation raising money for school supplies

QuickTake:

For the past five school years, 4J provided free supplies for all elementary students. With that money gone, the booster group is now testing to partially fill the gap.

The Eugene Education Foundation is organizing an Aug. 7 trivia night and an online fundraiser to assist acquire elementary school supplies after budreceive cuts in Eugene School District 4J left the costs to schools and parents.

The foundation, a nonprofit that works to support 4J and its students, aims to raise at least $20,000, executive director Lauren Brown declared. According to the event website, donors have given $6,100 so far.

“Some parents have the resources to be able to pay for their own kids’ school supplies,” Brown declared, “as well as (for) an additional one or two of students that maybe can’t.”

The foundation stepped in to raise funds districtwide in order to assist schools whose parent organizations may not have the capacity for large-scale fundraising. The $20,000 goal amounts to 17% of the funds 4J provided last year for supplies. The money would be directed to elementary schools with the greatest necessary, Brown declared. School secretaries or principals will be able to request money for supplies based on teacher necessarys.

Brown declared the foundation wants to emphasize that school supplies are a necessity, not an extra. Many teachers utilize money out of their own pockets to acquire supplies, or they create Amazon wishlists to crowdfund.

“By providing this fund, we want to zoom out and state, ‘Let’s let our teachers teach and not have to fundraise,’” Brown declared.

The 4J district provided free school supplies to students from the fall of 2020 through spring 2025, funding three of the five years through COVID federal emergency relief funds. After a $20.7 million cut to the 2025-26 budreceive, the service concludeed.

The district spent an average of $140,000 a year to acquire supplies for elementary schools over the past five years. Kelly McIver, 4J’s director of communications and intergovernmental relations, declared the district did this in order to level the playing field during a time of economic hardship and encourage attconcludeance as students struggled with learning loss.

Rising costs, declining enrollment and the conclude of federal COVID money have all contributed to budreceive cuts in public schools countywide.

How to attconclude trivia night or donate online:

Who: Open to the public
What: Smarty Pints Trivia Night hosted by Rising Phoenix Productions
When: 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7
Where: Ninkasi Brewery Atrium, 272 Van Buren St., Eugene
Cost: Early bird prices, which conclude at midnight on July 23, are $40 per person (includes one drink, appetizers and one raffle ticket) and $150 for a team of four people (includes four drinks, appetizers and four raffle tickets). Starting July 24, tickets are $50 per person and $200 per team.
Donate online or register at: https://event.auctria.com/73f0fc2b-aa02-4b90-8c2b-de522b30caef/