What is The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District?
Who serves on the Pinnacle Fund Board of Directors?
Is The Pinnacle Fund part of PSUSD?
Is The Pinnacle Fund completely separate from the District?
What is the mission of The Pinnacle Fund?
Why is the Pinnacle Fund mission important?
How does The Pinnacle Fund serve this purpose?
Why has the focus been placed on arts and technology?
What’s wrong with eliminating these extras?
Why can’t parents fund the needs of their children in user fees, for example?
Why should I care about the drop-out rate?
Has The Pinnacle Fund distributed any money?
How was the decision on which grants to fund made?
How can we know that these grants will result in educational excellence?
Isn’t the District a top-heavy bloated bureaucracy always asking for more money?
I don’t have children in the District. Why should I contribute?
Can I be involved in other ways in addition to donating?
Will my donation be tax-deductible?
What if I have additional questions?
The Pinnacle Fund is the brand name of The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District (PSUSD). In a thoughtful, clear way, the PSUSD seeks to follow the path to educational excellence guiding students to reach the pinnacle of success. Back to top.
What is The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District?
The Foundation is a non-profit 501( c)3 organization incorporated in 2007 and launched as The Pinnacle Fund in November, 2008. Back to top.
Who serves on the Pinnacle Fund Board of Directors?
The Board is an all volunteer group of community leaders and education advocates from across the Coachella Valley.Back to top.
Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Thousand Palms.Back to top.
Is The Pinnacle Fund part of PSUSD?
No. Although the incorporation of The Pinnacle Fund, The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District was initiated by the school district, it operates independently from the District.Back to top.
Is The Pinnacle Fund completely separate from the District?
No. Although autonomous, The Pinnacle Fund is aligned with the strategic vision of the PSUSD Superintendent and the District Governing Board to increase funding specifically in the areas of technology and the arts.Back to top.
What is the mission of The Pinnacle Fund?
To guarantee that our children are equipped with the 21st century skills that employers seek we must engage our diverse communities to ensure all students have the resources to reach their full potential.Back to top.
Why is the Pinnacle Fund mission important?
Children are our future! Our quality of life and the economic viability of our local communities depend greatly on the quality of our local schools.Back to top.
How does The Pinnacle Fund serve this purpose?
Our vision is that The Pinnacle Fund + Community = Educational Excellence.
The Pinnacle fund seeks to be an impetus for quality education, a catalyst for involving the community in the schools and for creating excitement about local public education, and a nexus for business, foundations, community organizations and the public-at-large to join forces and build excellence in our public schools.Back to top.
Why has the focus been placed on arts and technology?
Even in the best of economic times, the schools are not funded sufficiently to provide a world class education that includes access to the fine arts and technology. The digital literacy skills that ensure students gain proficiency with real world skills to produce high quality products are “must haves” in the global information economy. Adaptability, creativity and inventive thinking are key priorities of employers. The State budgetary crisis is creating severe funding cuts to programs perceived as “extras” as the first targeted for elimination.Back to top.
What’s wrong with eliminating these extras?
Research shows that the “extras” (such as music, for example) are actually essential to preparing students that can focus, communicate and apply information, work in teams and across disciplines. Students with a background in music, dance, theater and art demonstrate greater proficiency on academic assessments. Programs in the fine arts and technology have proven to lower the drop-out rate by engaging in learning and connecting them outside the classroom walls and also to the world of work. Digital literacy is a must-have proficiency to access information, create products, engage in complex communication, decision making and expert thinking. Familiarity with computers and the Internet is critical in the 21st century global, information economy.Back to top.
Why can’t parents fund the needs of their children in user fees, for example?
Public education is about equal access for all students to all learning opportunities. 70% of the District’s students qualify for government-subsidized free or reduced-cost lunches. School districts are prohibited from charging fees to parents of students who quality for free/reduced lunches.Back to top.
Why should I care about the drop-out rate?
Yes! Over $26,000 of grants were distributed directly to classroom teachers in PSUSD in March 2009, less than four months after The Pinnacle Fund was launched.Back to top.
How was the decision on which grants to fund made?
Adhering to the strategic vision of the District, in conjunction with the expertise of District personnel in charge of the arts and technology, a committee of The Pinnacle Fund board members reviewed all grant applications and made determinations based on their potential impact on educational excellence.Back to top.
How can we know that these grants will result in educational excellence?
One of the obligations of the grantees in accepting a Pinnacle Fund grant is to follow up with a report critically evaluating how their grants affected educational excellence.Back to top.
The state and federal governments are making unprecedented budget cuts. Before the current round of cuts, the Superintendent estimated that government funding did not meet the District’s needs by $6,000,000 annually. We need sustainable sources of funding that can carry us through the economic cycles in Sacramento and Washington. A child cannot “time” his entry into school to only the prosperous years.Back to top.
Isn’t the District a top-heavy bloated bureaucracy always asking for more money?
No. The District takes very seriously its responsibility to manage its tax dollars efficiently. The State allows 21 administrative positions more than are currently employed by the PSUSD. All cuts have been made with a mind to minimize the negative effects on the students and on the local economy since the District is one of the largest employers in the Coachella Valley.Back to top.
I don’t have children in the District. Why should I contribute?
Children are our future. Our quality of life and economic viability depend on good schools. Business needs qualified employees. New businesses looking to invest in our valley will evaluate our schools not only as a source of employees, but as the educator of the children of their executives and employees. Quality schools can be a catalyst for quality growth.Back to top.
Can I be involved in other ways in addition to donating?
Yes! We’d like your ideas, your time, and your enthusiasm!Back to top.
You may go to our Web site, www.pinnaclefund.org and follow the directions. You may donate by using a credit card or by downloading a form to send with your check to:
The Pinnacle Fund
980 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Ste. 202
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Attn: Theresa O’Dell
Back to top.
Will my donation be tax-deductible?
Yes. The Foundation for PSUSD is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Back to top.
What if I have additional questions?
Call (760) 416-6118 or email us at info@pinnaclefund.org. Back to top.