In its second year of schoolwide fundraising, the Santa Barbara High School Education Foundation has met its goal to raise $125,000 for Santa Barbara High School.

The education foundation aims to galvanize parent support and raise money for a variety of programs that benefit all students at Santa Barbara High School.

“We are so lucky to have an organization like this on our campus, and fortunate to have parents willing to donate for the greater good of the school and not just the specific club or interest of their child,” Principal John Becchio said.

Funds from the foundation go toward critical needs of the school, such as supplies for physics, biology and chemistry labs.

“The foundation has been our angel in this regard,” said Susan Park, chair of the Science Department. “[Our] funding has been severely limited in the past four years, and this donation helps us to maintain our outstanding hands-on laboratory program.”

Each year, the SBHS Education Foundation works closely with the school to look at gaps in its budget and fill those voids strategically. In 2011-12, in addition to funding science lab materials, the foundation paid for professional development and oversight for teachers, an emotional development component in the freshman seminar (coordinated by the Academy of Healing Arts), and for a teacher coordinator for the School Improvement Plan, a key element of the school’s accreditation process.

The foundation also paid to have the school’s one computer technician on campus year-round to service the high school’s technology systems.

The proceeds from this year’s fundraising will be directed toward projects in the 2012-13 school year.

“It is likely that we will pay for some of the same projects as we have in the past, as well as add new ones,” board President Geoff Grant said. “We re-evaluate our funding priorities every year in an effort to be responsive to the emerging needs of the school.”

The SBHS Education Foundation’s mission is to fund projects that will strengthen the academic program at Santa Barbara High School, improve the physical campus and enrich the variety of extracurricular activities so that all students have the opportunity to excel both inside and outside the classroom. In addition to its annual fundraising drive, the Education Foundation is working with the Santa Barbara Unified School District to launch a campaign to renovate JR Richards Gymnasium.

For more information about the SBHS Education Foundation, click here or contact Development Director Katie Jacobs at kjacobs@sbhsef.org or 805.966.9101 x341.

— Katie Jacobs is the development director for the Santa Barbara High School Education Foundation.