Quicklinks

 

Help our students achieve a Pajama Day!

For those families and individuals who have given to Casa’s annual fund—thank you! We hope to have 75% participation from all Casa families by the last day of school on June 1st. If we get to our goal all students will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school. Gifts in any amount are extremely important to Casa.

 

 

Annual Fund

 

Casa is more than just a school. It is a wonderful community of generous and caring parent and community volunteers who partner with enthusiastic and inspiring faculty and administrators–all for the benefit of our children. As a result, Casa children have a solid school community foundation on which to build their future.

Preschool tuition and public funding cover only 88 percent of the operating cost of our School. In order to continue to support the top-quality education and programs Casa offers, the Annual Fund is essential. The 2011-2012 Annual Fund is designated to raise funds that will be used primarily to support the academic mission of the school. Our teachers and our classrooms need our support.

We understand and appreciate the commitment that you have made to Casa. Your generosity and gifts of service are key to the well-being and success of this school community. We urge you to consider supporting Casa and its mission by giving to the 2010-2011 Annual Fund. Thank you in advance for your willingness to share your time, talents, and treasure with Casa Esperanza Montessori.

Click here to read answers to Annual Fund FAQs.

 

Why Donate?

Casa Esperanza is a not-for-profit school. To defray the costs for programs not funded by the state, Casa raises funds and accepts donations independently of what it receives from preschool tuition and the state of North Carolina.

We raise money to support efforts that directly enrich our student experiences. Some of these efforts include:

  • sponsoring Montessori teacher training
  • supporting our Media Center
  • enhancing the equipment in our Technology Program.
  • Enhancing our Middle Grades program which opened in Fall 2010

Why is 100% participation by Casa Families so important?

In order to qualify for matching grants, many corporations and foundations require that 100% of school families donate money to the school before the organization will consider contributing. There are numerous grants available for schools like ours that would greatly benefit our children. Therefore, every single tax-deductible contribution counts no matter how big or small.

 

What Support Do We Get from Public Funds and Preschool Tuition?

In 2000, a group of dedicated individuals acted upon their vision of making quality Montessori education available in a public school setting. These individuals had a firm belief in the teaching methods of Maria Montessori and a strong desire to serve the growing need for bilingual education in North Carolina. This was the basis for the 2002 Charter grant that Casa Esperanza received from the State of North Carolina to begin our school community.

Experience shows, however, that it is not possible to operate the school and keep that vision solely on the funding we receive from Federal, State, County, and preschool tuition sources. Preschool students pay exactly the same tuition as we receive for charter students. Charter schools receive, on average, $1200 less in per pupil funding than would a district-supported school educating the same student.

This is primarily because of what is commonly referred to as the “building gap” for Charter Schools. Although we receive per-pupil funding similar to a Wake County Public School District sponsored-school, we do not receive a building to house the school. This means that almost 20% of our entire operating budget goes to paying the rent on our school building. Money spent on rent is money not spent on music and art programs, teacher training or classroom supplies (it takes almost $20,000 to equip a single classroom with Montessori materials). Recruitment, retention, and mentoring high-quality teachers is of paramount importance for the success of Casa Esperanza. All of these activities require significant funding to maintain their current programming level .

 

How Do We Help Ourselves?

Casa Esperanza pursues a number of avenues to augment the budget. Some of these include:

  • Operating private programs (preschool, before and after school care)
  • Grant writing
  • Parent Faculty Association (PFA) fund raising (book fairs, fun fairs, school pictures, silent auction, SCRIP)
  • Special project fund raising (playground climber, Touch Tank, raffle)
  • Student-led businesses fund field trips (Upper Elementary Holiday Cards, walk-a-thon, poetry coffee house; Middle Grades school store, Health-e Lunch program)
  • Annual Fund requests from community members (Casa families, extended family members, faculty, board members, and members of the business community)

 

On-line Donations

There are a number of ways you can donate monetarily to Casa Esperanza Montessori Charter School.

One of the easiest and quickest is to click on our on-line donation button below.

Monetary donations to Casa Esperanza are tax-deductible.

2010-2011 Annual Fund
Donations to the annual fund will support:

  • Montessori teacher training
  • Technology upgrades for the school
  • Acquisition of Media Center materials and equipments

 

Make a Pledge

Another way to donate to Casa Esperanza’s Montessori school is to pledge money to the school’s annual fund.

Click here to download a pledge form.

 

Donating via Shopping

Casa Esperanza Montessori benefits financially when you shop locally, go on-line to specific vendors, or collect box tops! Please visit these websites. Once you sign up, CEMCS will receive a percentage of your on-line purchases.

www.onecause.com/schoolpop

You can collect box tops from participating General Mills products and earn money for CEMCS. Please go to their website to see how easy it is!