Kalispell Education Foundation Invested Nearly $80k in the 2023-2024 Academic Year

In Kristi Sanders’ classroom, students joined forces to inhabit another planet. Teams of five to six students determined what the future of life on another planet could look like, parsing through six different planet profiles, conducting research, engaging in lively debate, and collaborating to build spacecraft models for planet exploration. For this hands-on discovery journey, students attended a Flathead Valley Community College lecture with a NASA engineer to learn more about space exploration, and local community members brought their expertise to advise students, like a resident archaeologist who brought her tools to teach students about excavation. By the end of the year, each team presented their findings to a panel of experts in the community. One lucky team was crowned the Intergalactic Champion of the Universe.

This cross-curricular project, Planet Equinox, is just one of the many projects the Kalispell Education Foundation (KEF), an independent nonprofit organization that raises funds to support Kalispell Public Schools programming and educators through grants and teacher appreciation program, funded in 2023-2024.  

In a recently released “report card” for the 2023-24 academic year, KEF reported a total investment of approximately $80,000. This sum includes all the grants the foundation gave out to enhance educational opportunities in and out of classrooms, such as funding for Glacier and Flathead high schools’ after-school tutoring programs and the Glacier High School’s science fair. In total, the foundation impacted 4,340 individual students and 300 teachers.

KEF works with schools to fulfill the Kalispell Public School District’s educational standards for math, English Language Arts, science, social studies, and physical education, while encouraging teachers to explore classroom instruction with an eye toward innovation. Without KEF’s support, Planet Equinox and related projects would be unable to afford the necessary supplies to create “real-world” scenario experiments and simulations throughout the academic year. Due to the failure of school levies, teachers across all school levels often feel financial strain when operating their classrooms, paying out of pocket to supplement outstanding costs.

But KEF funds don’t just reach the classrooms through school supplies — the grant program empowers instructors to employ unique approaches to learning, opening new possibilities for classroom instruction. For example, in the Kalispell Middle School system, teachers are exploring Competency-Based Education, or (CBE), an educational philosophy that enforces meaningful learning and excellent teaching driven by individual teaching interest and need while remaining flexible to encourage student growth where it becomes possible.

In addition, this available support means that overlooked areas in school funding, like Special Education programs, are deemed as primary areas necessitating classroom support. Specialized Resources and equipment tend to be underfunded by traditional sources, as materials can be pricey and fall far beyond a classroom’s budget. In the 2023-2024 report card, specialized classroom funding comprised about 25% of allocated funding, and Special Education 11%.

For Danielle Craver, a special education instructor at Flathead High School, the Great Opportunity grant went toward materials for a Life Skills class, teaching students how to handle kitchen appliances and learn food safety and meal preparation. In her grant application, she said that the funds would go toward appliances like a coffee maker, measuring cups, and cutting boards, and explained how the Life Skills class continues to “provide [students] with opportunities that they would otherwise not experience,” helping students learn skills that are applicable outside of the classroom.

Since 2020, the number of KEF-impacted students has been on a steady uptick. What started with about 2,000 students has grown tremendously to 4,340 students across the district, an increase of 117% since 2020. The District’s current student population hovers over 6,000 students, meaning the foundation has gone from impacting a third of its students to about 70%.

“I feel like at this point we have hit every subject, every grade, every school, and that’s everything from STEM materials for science experiments to bringing textbook learning to life, to safety glasses and gloves to keep our students safe,” Dorothy Drury, KEF’s executive director, said. “We are impacting more and more students each year, and I imagine, by the time a student graduates, that they have at some point, if not at multiple points, been impacted by a KEF grant.”

In the last two years, the foundation has awarded around 60 grants to various disciplines and activities.

It’s August, which, for some students and teachers, means that summer is over and that it’s almost time to return to the classroom. As students pack their backpacks and indulge in back-to-school sales, KEF is excited and ready to take on the upcoming academic year with teachers, elevating their work and treating them as necessary assets to the community.

Ally Jones, a school counselor in the school system, said, “I firmly believe that the continuation of KEF’s grant programs is essential for sustaining and furthering the positive impact they have on our students’ lives. It’s not just about financial assistance; it’s about investing in the future of our community by ensuring that every student has access to the resources and support they need to thrive. KEF’s commitment to our school has been invaluable, and I sincerely hope to see this partnership endure for the benefit of generations to come.”  

This means looping in more educators to continue the foundation’s mission. Recently hired Program Coordinator Jenny Cloutier will oversee the process of Educator of the Year awards, a three-cycle application, and review to recognize and honor teachers across the District from elementary to high school. Cloutier is KEF’s second employee, and her role in strategic planning and nonprofit management will help streamline reviewing the nearly 800 nominations to recognize instructors for their often overlooked, impactful work to the Kalispell community.

Local businesses also partner with the foundation to support classroom enrichment programs. With this increased support, KEF can fill in the funding gap that the school district needs help to close, especially when hiring and acclimating new teachers to Kalispell public schools. To help kick off their experience, KEF offers gift cards to new teachers for supplies, knowing that, inevitably, teachers spend money out of pocket to run their classrooms.

“I think our community really supports education and looks for opportunities to support our students,” Drury said.

This coming fall, Applied Materials will partner with KEF for school supplies through a $15,000 donation of supplies for 175 teachers, including all of the district’s new teachers.

The partnership is currently underway. Later this month, staff employees will use the supplies to create welcome kits to provide valuable assets to instructors in the community.

“It really is an incredible donation and so wonderful to make directly to teachers since so many spend funds out of their own pockets if there are students in need,” Drury said.

As long as the Kalispell classrooms continue to prioritize excellence and innovation in new, quality teaching methods, the foundation will be right behind them, equipping them with the crucial resources to succeed.

“We are so grateful to our community. We believe that a quality education [is what] all our students in our community deserve,” Drury said. “I guess if I were to highlight what we do, it’s that we enhance learning in Kalispell Public Schools, one classroom at a time.”

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