Capital Campaign

Pinellas Preparatory Academy, Inc. has a solid financial history, and has always operated in a fiscally conservative manner in order to ensure the continued success of our schools for our students. We recently learned that due to an intepretation by the state's Department of Education, we are going to be inelligible for a significant amount of capital outlay funds that we had planned to set aside for future capital purchases. As such we need your help to replace these funds.

Quick Links

The Need
Why Now?
How you can help
Incentives
FAQ

Playground Contribution

Technology Contribution

General Capital Campgin Contribution

This site has been setup to help you understand why we are in this situation, how you can help, and to answer any questions you may have.

Click here to download the flier and pledge card that was sent home with your student.

Presentation on the reasons for our Capital Campaign

Identifying the Need

Building a Playground for PPA, Jr.

One of the things we hear most often from our parents, and students, is the yearning for a playground for our younger students. We would like to develop a playground that incorporates physical education and fun into an entire package for our students. We have received one quote for a possible design, and the total cost was approximately $45,000. Thus far PTEG has received nearly $1,000 in donations specifically for the playfield this year, and at the end of the year, they will be distributing some of their proceeds from the auction and other fundraisers for the playground. We had hoped to set aside money for the playground from the surplus left at the end of the year. We also are applying for grants to help offset the cost of the playground, and hope that we will be able to install it either late during the 2012-13 school year, or over the summer before the start of the 2013-14 school year, unless we receive an overwhelming response from families as part of this Capital Campaign allowing us to install it earlier.

Classroom Technology for PPA

Preparing students for their future means equipping them with essential 21st century skills, such as the ability to think critically, problem solve, communicate, collaborate and adapt. In the future implementing these skills on a variety of technology platforms will be essential. We are preparing students for careers which in all likelihood do not even exist yet. Purchasing tools such as computers, smart boards or interactive tablets are extremely expensive. To fully equip a single classroom with the most modern tools costs approximately $1,500 if done conservatively. To provide the best systems along with a class set of classroom computers would be closer to $18,000. We try to set aside funds every year to build on the tools that we have available. Funds donated as part of this capital campaign will be spent early in the 2012-13 school year to purchase additional technology resources for our students.

Why this is happening now

The original budget for this school year had a surplus of over $144,000. These funds were to be carried over for future projects and use. Our mortgage, which are publically financed bonds, require that we have a cash reserve of at least 5% of our annual budget, and that we have a “debt-service-ratio” of at least 10%. This means that we are required to have a surplus of at least $46,000 this year. After modifying all of our income amounts, and trimming the budget as much as we felt we could without negatively affecting students, we were left with an operating surplus of $14,802. In order to meet our financial requirements, the Board decided to cancel the upcoming professional development days for staff, and to institute “furlough” days, resulting in approximately $52,000 in savings. This allows us to meet our financial requirements, but does so on the backs of our staff.

If we are able to raise our goal of $50,000 in this capital campaign, the Board may be able to reallocate some of the money back to the teachers restoring their original salary amounts. Additionally, the money will allow us to meet our “debt-service-ratio” for the current fiscal year, and allow us to invest in capital needs of the school such as the playground and technology within the next school year.

How you can help

Our goal is that each family will either contribute or raise $100. We have 528 families at the school, so if each family meets this goal, we will raise more than $50,000. Given the economic times in which we live, we realize that not all families will be able to donate money themselves. That is why we are asking that you either donate or raise the funds. Here are some suggestions for how you could raise the funds:

Ask your employer if they offer an Employee-Matching program
Tell your employer about the great things happening at our school, and see if they would be willing to make a charitable contribution
Explain the situation to your child’s grandparents and see if they might be willing to make a contribution
Ask your friends, neighbors or co-workers if they might be willing to donate a few dollars to help reach the goal
Ask businesses you frequent if they would be willing to consider making a financial contribution to the school
Find old gadgets laying around the house, and sell them or send them to a service such as Gazelle.com and donate the money
Have your students mow the neighbor’s lawn and donate their earnings

If you are able to raise or donate more than $100, we hope that you will consider doing so, to help us reach the goal knowing that some families will be unable to meet their own goal.

What Incentives are available for donors

Above the satisfaction of knowing you are helping our schools to succeed, donations made to the school are charitable contributions, and may be tax deductible. Additionally, each family that meets the goal of contributing or raising their $100 goal will be entered into a drawing to be held at the end of the school year. So far we are going to be giving away the following prizes:

Two Kindle Fires
Two iPod Nanos
One iPad

We are going to be contacting businesses asking them to donate additional prizes to our drawing as well.

Businesses who contribute at least $100 will also be able to post advertisements on the school’s website if they provide the artwork for the ad. Every $100 donated will mean 3-weeks of the businesses advertisement being in the rotation.

Additionally, any contribution made can be specificed toward a specific students, and every $10 raised is worth 5-volunteer-points for those still working to complete their 100-point goal for year.

Additional Questions?

If you have additional questions about our Capital Campaign, please visit the FAQ page, or contact Curtis Fuller.

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