In a 2024 study, Rice University's Kinder Institute found that over 73% of Texas school districts are underfunded, leading to organizations such as education foundations to fill the gap.
“With strains on district budgets and state funding ... it's really important for the community to have a way to rally around the school district and help provide funding,” said Ashley Adair, executive director of the FISD Education Foundation.
What you need to know
The foundations, which are nonprofits, operate as separate entities from their respective districts but work in tandem with school leaders and district officials to meet the needs of teachers.
“If they have a goal in mind, we want to help in any way possible to implement that goal,” said Brandy Groth, executive director of the AISD Education Foundation.
The foundations rely solely on donations from community members and local businesses to fund their grants and scholarships, according to the directors.
To receive funding, teachers must apply for the grants and make a case for the request, which can include items such as new science kits, materials, a 3D printer or money to start a new program.
The details
The FISD Education Foundation has raised over $4.2 million in its 25 years, Adair said.
According to the foundation's 2024-25 impact report, 613 grants were funded totaling over $450,000—helping fund 140 teacher initiatives.
They also have a scholarship program that started in spring 2024 that allows FISD staff to continue their education. The scholarship raised $37,500 with 22 scholarships awarded, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the PISD Education Foundation has raised over $3 million since its inception in 2014, with $25,000 distributed annually in recent years, Executive Director Kimberly Barfield said.
This past spring, the foundation received 137 applications totaling $400,000 in request.
The AISD Education Foundation offers teacher and campus innovation grants as well as scholarships for paraprofessionals, teachers and students, totaling $1.2 million raised since its founding in 1998, according to its website.
In the 2023-24 school year, 114 grants were awarded. Groth said the foundation prioritizes innovative classroom projects that will increase student engagement and achievements in the classroom.
The impact
The grants distributed across each foundation have gone to several projects over the years.
For example, a teacher at PISD launched a classroom art project using a mini-grant from the foundation. Students visited the local animal shelter, painted portraits of the animals and then sold the artwork with all proceeds going back to the shelter.
Another example featured a grant written in partnership between UTMB Health and Friendswood High School helped fund a simulated ambulance, laying the groundwork for the school's EMT certification program, Adair said.
One graduate from the program is now employed by Friendswood Emergency Medical Services and was dispatched to a high school athletic practice to help a student who had overheated.
“It was a full-circle moment of a student giving back to the program that built him,” Adair said.
