I personally love these classes. We call them multi-age grades. In Australia one of our state governments set up the First Steps program when my middle child entered Kindergarten. I hunted down a school that ran the program. I was thrilled with it. I think it does require the teacher to be very committed to a form of flexible teaching where they take a lot of individual records. Not always possible with all this standardized testing going on.
I will try my best to explain the program our entire district uses. Our district has what is called "continuous progress". No matter what your child's grade, they will be placed according to their abilities. We have almost entirely multiage classes in our school of approximately 1100 students. Some are just two grade levels and some are three grade levels. It works out beautifully. My son was in a K-1-2 class for 2 years, and then last year he was in a 3-4-5 class. My youngest son starts K this year and will most likely be in a K-1 class. This is not a new program either. The classes then break up for math, so there is atleast one teacher in each pod teaching each grade level for math. If your child needs to be in a higher math group he/she can, or even in a lower math group. As far as language arts, they are all taught the same, but different grades have different expectations.
I was even in multiage classes when I was in school and loved them. The only time there is sometimes a problem is when the 3rd and 5th graders are together and there can be a maturity/ development difference.
First, I'm not a lawyer, but here's what I believe.
Any public school should be a form of non-profit automatically. Basically, they are an extension of local government. I don't think they even have to apply with the IRS like a 501(c)(3) - it's just a fact of who they are. So as far as the school giving you a number that didn't work - something's wrong. Check into that some more.
As far as whether grants should go through the PTO, it depends. If you are raising money for salaries - to get aids or those type of resources, I strongly believe that money needs to go through the school. A small PTO (or large, for that matter) probably does not want to get into employment issues. But you COULD contribute volunteers to the grant writing or fundraising (and of course, just plain recruiting volunteers).
For grants where you buy equipment, supplies, programs, etc. - again, it depends. Some grants are intended for schools, so the application needs to be in the school's name. If your group wants to go after a $10,000 grant, buy some computers and donate them - that's one thing. If the PTO wanted to take responsibility for science club, that's doable. However, if you want to help the school district implement a distance learning plan and go after a $500,000 grant - I think it would be far better for you to keep everything in the school's name.
What I would want to consider is how much money is involved, what is the purpose, how complex is the implementation and accountability. And you are going to need to work closely with the school to decide WHAT you should go after and come to terms on how it would be used if successful.
Please keep us posted, I think we can all learn a great deal from you.
Thanks for all the ideas. They raised the sales tax 1/2 percent. This did give $50,000.00 back to the schools from the county commissioners, but it still meant cuts for our school. I realize that we have to work together as a community. Since so many of our families were hit by plant closing etc. it just seems this is another blow to our "end of the county". As you say there is no reason to cry now. We have got to pick ourselves up and see what can be done. I did take a class on grant writing and wanted to help with that. What I want to know are you saying not to run the grants through the PTO? I am ignorant in this area. Any help with that would be great. If we don't run it through the PTO then how do we do it? I have found out that the number that we were given by the school is not a tax exempt number. That is another reason we are going for the nonprofit status this summer. Most grants only give to nonprofit. That would mean to me that we would have to do it through the PTO. Of course I also know that our county office has raised thousands of dollars for other schools in our district through grants. Again thanks for the great ideas.
Just thought I'd pass along a great book for you to check out: The Educated Child. It is written by William J. Bennett--he was the US Sec of Education for several years. The book gives, by grade level, the minimum each grade should know/be taught. It goes through each subject, like English, History, Math, etc. Its a great tool to ensure your kids are getting the best education possible.
I also must say that I think JHB gave some great advice. I dont know what kind of economic situation your city/residents are in, but perhaps a small hike in taxes 1/4cent could help raise funds for teachers, or at least add a few aides.
