The foundation, a nonprofit organization of parents, neighbors and community members, works to achieve high-quality education by raising vital funds for the Los Gatos Union School District. The group puts donations to work to benefit schools by funding annual grants for educational programs, teaching positions and materials that enrich the learning experience for students.

The 2002­03 annual financial campaign and six-week Save Our Schools campaign last year helped to generate core funding—a combined $1.2 million—at a time when the district and state were facing serious budget shortfalls. The campaigns helped to save 13 valuable teaching positions, some elective classes, and a full-time librarian position at Raymond J. Fisher Middle School and offered support for teachers in reading, writing and science.

Both campaigns, however, could not save everything in the district, and cuts were made in the form of a nurse's position, operating and supply budgets at school sites and the district, cuts to staff other than teachers—including one administrative position and support personnel—and no raises for any employee in 2002­03.

But what the campaigns did do was create an unparalleled educational curve where parents became interested in learning about programs and positions that had to be cut and saved and what their financial contributions were benefiting.

Cathy Fox and Gary Rieschel, the foundation's annual financial campaign co-chairs, said greater than 60 percent of Los Gatos parents contributed to the SOS campaign last year, and the foundation hopes to continue to increase participation and improve that trend.

"They've stayed interested," Rieschel said. "The amount of parents involved at all levels in the district is unprecedented."

Fox and Rieschel said the community has not tired of giving financially, but community members want to see the immediate impact of the money they contribute to Los Gatos schools.

"It's not a healthy time to be saving for an endowment," said Pam Kissiah, the foundation's co-president. Kissiah added that the SOS campaign resulted in an opportunity to learn how California's education system compares to those of other states.

"[Parents] had the opportunity to see California ranked 33rd in the nation in terms of the dollars spent per child," Kissiah said.

Representatives from the foundation said last year's efforts also created what they perceive to be a dramatic change in the actions of the superintendent of the Los Gatos Union School District, Mary Ann Park, who is now more active in helping the schools and community while looking toward the future of the district.

The foundation members said they are making the safe assumption that the state's budget is not going to improve, therefore the foundation has another year of preservation in education to prevent more cuts.

"It's still going to cost us at least another million," said the foundation's other co-president, Sandy Nakata, adding that this will again mean a huge volunteer fundraising commitment on the part of foundation members, parents and the community.

"We can't continue to operate in a crisis mode," Fox said, referring to the SOS campaign, which raised needed funds in a short amount of time.

One solution could be E-squared, which stands for Excellence in Education, a long-term initiative that has evolved as a partnership between the district and the foundation. The intent of E-squared is to establish preservation dollars and better education practices and offer long-term improvements to the district.

"The goal is to significantly improve education and other practices of the school district," Park said.

Park added that E-squared will hopefully reform everything from the use of technology in classrooms to distribution of funding and greater involvement from the community in education.

"I have faith in this community," Park said. "The community supports the children and youth in ways that I am just astounded by."

But currently, Park said the campaign is only beginning a market analysis phase, beginning on the middle school level and advancing later to elementary schools. An already formed steering committee—consisting of parents, teachers, foundation members, principals and community members—will be researching topics such as middle school education, curriculum, adolescent development and funding initiatives.

Park said the committee will be comparing Fisher to other high-performing middle schools in cities like Saratoga, Palo Alto and Los Altos, as well as middle schools in other states. The results of those findings will be shared to engage the community in discussion, recommendations and possible ramifications. Park said another end result will be the development of a business plan.

"There are a lot of people looking into how we can continue to improve as a district, and not just maintain the status quo," said Nakata.