Yes, PEF can, and does, fund teacher salaries.
How is that possible? Aren’t ongoing costs unable to be supported by fundraising because it’s not guaranteed funding?
Because PEF has such a long history of meeting fundraising goals, and because we fundraise each year for the next year and so can accurately predict what we will be able to grant for the next year, PUSD includes a line item for the PEF grant in the revenue portion of the district budget and multi-year projections. There is sufficient evidence that the district can count on this revenue stream for them to be able to use the funds for ongoing costs.
How much does PEF fund?
The overwhelming message from our community of donors is that we value our teachers and want to prioritize their salaries in the grant. So, we do. 77%, or $2.3 million, of this year’s grant is being used to support certificated salaries.
The PEF grant supports a percentage of current teacher salaries. It has a direct impact on every teacher salary as it is granted by line item to match the district financials. For example, in 2022-23, our grant funded 11% of all teacher salaries at our elementary schools. It funded 6% of math teacher salaries, 6% of science teacher salaries at PHS, etc. Our grant is only used for new teachers and staff when the new hires are filling an existing position.
Want to “see the numbers”?
The Grants and School Support page on our website shows more information about this year’s PEF grant to PUSD. Our Mission and Financial page (under PEF Grant to PUSD), shows grant details for the past 6 years on a line item basis (i.e. how much is contributed to elementary teachers, Math teachers, Science teachers, etc).
What is the impact?
While a significant portion of our grant funds teacher salaries, unfortunately it is not a significant portion of the PUSD budget. It’s only about 6% of district operations, which translates to PEF funding only about 6% of the salaries of our classroom teachers.
But, if the community were to double contributions to the Giving Campaign, we could provide PUSD with sufficient funds for them to offer a more significant raise.
