By Archana Verma

We all know that excellent schooling and personal hard work help kids get into good colleges and universities. Strong schools also have a profound effect on property values.
A year ago, my oldest daughter started college. During her 13 years in Bellevue public schools, I gained a close look into the school district through volunteering at school, talking to fellow parents, and through the content of her school work.
I started volunteering in my daughter’s kindergarten class in the year 2000. My volunteering was helpful and greatly appreciated, but I observed that extra funds were needed to strengthen the teaching materials beyond the basics. I concluded that the best way to strengthen our schools is to both volunteer and donate money.
The volunteer hours and financial donations that I gave to Bellevue schools were some of the best investments I have made in the last 13 years. My daughter got a strong education and I have gotten a strong increase in my Bellevue home’s property value.
By donating money towards public education, we invest in our own financial interest. Donating money to an individual school is akin to investing in a college fund for their individual college education. Donating money to the Bellevue Schools Foundation is akin to adding investments in a 401K plan. A strong school district ensures a strong real estate market and a strong community where we live and raise our children.
In Bellevue there are two ways to donate money to improve public education: to a specific school by donating money to the school’s PTA and to the entire school district by donating money to Bellevue Schools Foundation.
Every year we, and many of our friends, donate to both. I strongly believe that all of us should.
PTAs fund enrichments at individual schools. The Bellevue Schools Foundation funds programs that enhance districtwide curriculum, support struggling students, and offer challenges to advanced students. This enhances districtwide opportunities for a strong education for every student in every school.
Having a schools foundation in our community also allows us to attract funding from nonprofit organizations and private corporations like Microsoft and Boeing. These groups often prefer investing in organizations that have strong community support. Thus donations made to Bellevue Schools Foundation ultimately attract even more donations for Bellevue schools. What a fabulous return on our investment dollars.
During tax season we breathe a sigh of relief that our state has no income tax and relatively low real estate taxes. But this relief comes at the price of a shortfall in school funding. The state funding available to Washington schools is woefully inadequate, especially when compared to most other states. We must take personal responsibility to help fund our schools in addition to lobbying our legislators for better school funding.
Tax-deductible donations towards education through both school PTAs and Bellevue Schools Foundation have the triple benefit of producing strong students, enhancing our community and strengthening the financial future of all Bellevue’s homeowners.

Archana Verma is a Bellevue School District parent and a member of Bellevue Schools Foundation’s Board of Trustees.