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Education is a popular cause

Making a lasting change in someone’s life, whether a toddler or a working adult, often comes down to one thing – education.

“It’s the only thing that can break the cycle of poverty,” said Cissy Anderson, a longtime donor and volunteer. “John (her husband), and I have a deep fundamental belief in education..”

La Plata County residents support education in many ways, from early-childhood education, kindergarten through 12th grade and on to college or vocational training. Didn’t receive the education you needed when you were young? The Durango Education Center offers a second chance to get back on that path.

“That is a phenomenal organization,” said Peter Maiurro, vice president of El Pomar Foundation, which has given more than $1.3 million to La Plata County nonprofits in the last five years. “They are really changing people’s lives, and Teresa Malone (executive director) is doing a great job.”

Cuts in state funding to kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education have spurred two organizations to increase efforts so the quality of the education delivered does not go down.

“Pat Murphy, who has been on our board for 30 years, said we needed to stop being do-gooders and start doing good, let’s do more,” said Elizabeth Testa, executive director of the Durango Education Foundation, which supports Durango School District 9-R. “We started seeing the bigger picture and the need to take on advocacy for public education.”

One stark trend that emerged was the impact of decreases in state funding since the recession began. Colorado is 40th out of 50 states on K-12 education funding, she said, and 9-R is 168th out of 178 districts in the state for per-pupil funding.

“All discretionary funding is gone,” Testa said, “and we keep hearing teachers and staff saying that they’re ‘making do because they can’t get musical instruments repaired or making do without a printer because they can’t buy a new one.’ It’s disheartening and demoralizing to work under those circumstances, and I think they’re heroic for what they do.”

Foundation board members instigated the Community Action for Education campaign at the end of 2013 to ramp up their support efforts. The campaign resulted in a $200,000-plus donation to 9-R this year, double what the foundation gave the previous year.

Fort Lewis College also has been hit hard by decreases in state funding.

Mark Jastorff, the college’s new vice president for advancement, started July 1.

“We’re starting a program to build relationships for the future health of the college, to build a legacy,” he said. “We need to tell our alumni ‘Here are our needs, here’s how you can help.’ And if thousands give $100, $500 or $1,000, we need fewer people to give $5,000 or $10,000.”

He sees big changes coming in higher education overall and at FLC.

“In this era of diminishing state funding,” he said, “state schools will soon be state schools in name only. There are about 4,500 or 4,600 colleges and universities in the U.S. right now, but in 10 or 15 years, that will be down to about 3,000. That’s not a fear, it’s a fact.”

FLC, however, is in a solid position to go forward. In this era of student debt, FLC students are graduating with an average debt load is $28,000, the average price of a small car, as Jastorff puts it, so it’s a bargain while still being an investment in students’ futures.

“There’s a huge potential at Fort Lewis,” he said, “As Colorado’s liberal arts college, we help people not only train for the workforce, we help people dream big, be aggressive, make plans come true.”

Does he have an “elevator speech,” a quick way to tell people what FLC does?

“It’s all about storytelling,” he said, “and higher education hasn’t done a good job of telling our story. We’re the maker of dreams.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

Dec 6, 2015
Fort Lewis College alumni on the move
Aug 24, 2014
‘A moral responsibility’


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