Ranking puts Shawnee Mission Education Foundation among the nation’s best

After more than 25 years, the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation has hit some big, round numbers — figures like $2 million in assets and nearly $4 million in grants made.

And now the foundation has been ranked among the nation’s top K-12 education foundations in a recent study by a Florida-based consultant.

Tampa’s Dewey and Associates ranked the foundation 42nd out of the top 200 foundations in its 2015 survey. Shawnee Mission Education Foundation was also ranked fourth best in its division — foundations with annual revenues between $500,000 and $999,999.

The survey used eight factors in four overall areas to make its rankings:

▪ Resources to enhance public education (annual revenues, revenues per student).

▪ Long-term financial sustainability (total assets, assets per student, investment income).

▪ Resources invested into programs (total grants, programs and similar amounts paid and per student — both less salaries and benefits).

▪ Human capital (volunteers).

This was Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s first year to make Dewey and Associates’ rankings. Neither the Blue Valley Educational Foundation nor the Olathe Public Schools Foundation was cited. Then again, Shawnee Mission Education Foundation has a few years on the others, having been founded in 1989 as opposed to 1990 for Blue Valley’s foundation — and 1997 for Olathe’s.

Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s history goes back even farther than that, explains Executive Director Linda Roser.

“It started with a group of community members appointed by the superintendent in 1985 and charged with finding a way for the community to provide additional support to the school,” Roser said.

By the time the Board of Education approved the establishment of the allied but separate foundation in 1989, Shawnee Mission Education Foundation was one of just 20 of its kind in the nation.

“Foundations existed at colleges and private schools, but not in public education for the most part,” Roser said. “The goal from the beginning was to provide additional resources to fund excellence. We always have had a teacher-grant program for teachers who want to do things in the classroom that their budget doesn’t allow for.”

Then, as now, the adequacy of school finance was a concern and subject to arcane regulation at the state level.

“One thing we cannot do is fund classroom teacher salaries,” Roser noted. “Through the years, money raised has gone to fund auxiliary positions like nurses, counselors and para(professional)s.”

The executive director is charged with developing relationships with donors, seeking out grants and planning the annual fundraising breakfast that kicks off the school year.

Gifts to the foundation may come with or without strings attached. For instance, funds have been established within Shawnee Mission Education Foundation and devoted to the support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), special education and the visual arts, among other things.

Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s executive director has traditionally consulted closely with district administrators to align its activities with the district’s strategic goals, Roser said. Shawnee Mission Education Foundation has its office in the district’s McEachen Administrative Center.

“I work very closely with the curriculum folks here in the district to stay informed as to what their needs are,” Roser said.

Roser said she was particularly proud of an early-learning program Shawnee Mission Education Foundation has lately helped to fund. Jump Start is a three-week summer school-readiness program for incoming kindergartners.

“It’s offered at their schools, with their teachers,” Roser said. The district received federal funds to establish Jump Start at three “Title 1” schools — those whose populations are at high risk for failure.

In 2014, the first year of the program, 47 at-risk students at the three schools were enrolled in Jump Start. This past summer, the district wanted to expand that to 12 schools.

“Nine were Title 1 schools and three were not, so they came to the foundation to fund those three schools,” Roser said. “This year, over 260 students participated in Jump Start. They come in ready to learn. They have a confidence level and become leaders. Early test scores are very promising. It’s an exciting model, and the foundation is proud to participate.”

A longstanding foundation program is its Excellence in Education grants. Teachers are invited to apply each year, and a committee reviews the requests before passing on its recommendations to the full SMEF board.

Shawnee Mission West art teacher Greg Schieszer asked for money to buy digital drawing tablets that translate students’ pen strokes to their Apple computers. The drawings can then be manipulated with programs such as Photoshop.

“The committee and the board looked at it and said, ‘If it’s good at one school, it’s good at all of them,’ and put them in all five high schools,” Roser said.

She recently visited a Shawnee Mission West High art classroom to see the tablets in action and present a group of student artists with copies of Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s “Happy Holidays” card whose snowflake cover they helped to create with the devices.

Art student Addison Benson said she liked using the tablets.

“I really like them, instead of drawing with the mouse,” she said. “It’s more of a natural feel.”

Art teacher Kim Shockey said the tablets were becoming standard in the graphic-design industry, so students who have used them will have a leg up when they enter college or the workforce.

Principal Steve Loe said he appreciated the way the tablets build onto the district’s all-student computer program.

“Having the 1-to-1 computers is great in many ways,” Loe said. “But when it comes to art, it’s difficult to use the Macbooks. This allows the art teachers to use the Macbooks in more ways than one.”

It’s this kind of enhancement to education that keeps Shawnee Mission Education Foundation leaders and contributors coming back year after year.

“The vision of SMEF’s founders 25 years ago is consistent with its donors and stewards today,” said board Vice President Dan Schipfer. “SMEF has been blessed with strong leadership and a generous community of individuals, educators and businesses.”

“The Shawnee Mission schools are an economic engine for our community and all of Johnson County,” said board President Dean Davison. “Our public schools help young people fulfill their potential, and the foundation provides that extra margin of excellence that parents and patrons in Shawnee Mission have come to expect.

“Our four children have benefited mightily from the great education they received in Shawnee Mission schools,” Davison said. “Families who will never know my family contributed through their tax dollars and through their donations to make that possible. It seems only right that my family support the foundation and help others enjoy the same — or better — experience in Shawnee Mission.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Ranking puts Shawnee Mission Education Foundation among the nation’s best."