High-impact Gifts:

Small Class Size: Since the Fund Board’s inception, class size has been a top consideration for Steamboat Springs parents. A priority today, the EFB’s largest request for 2008-09 is $800,000 to fund salaries for 16 teachers across the district. Actual class size might vary from elementary to the secondary levels due to subject matter and instructional format, but the benefits of small class size are evident districtwide.

• Funds at the elementary level reduce class size to an average of 20 students
• At the middle and high schools, additional teachers provide flexibility for more resource teachers in the classroom and support specialized electives with limited enrollment which might otherwise not be financially feasible.
• Smaller classes allow for more individual attention to students and small groups and supports team teaching in the Middle School

The class size gift also provides flexibility for additional teachers should enrollment increase in the future.

Other Significant Gifts

Articulated Spanish:
At the request of parents, Spanish has been added for students in grades 3-5. The Fund Board gifts also give 6th graders one full year of Spanish. Seventh grade students can choose French or Spanish which they can study through high school.

Gifted and Talented Instruction:
Fund board gifts made it possible to hire one full- time teacher at each school to guide gifted students to a brighter future. These resource teachers motivate high-achieving students to reach new heights and meet state mandates that are oftentimes underfunded.

Steamboat Springs Orchestra Youth Program:
A gift from the Education Fund supports both a string orchestra and chamber ensembles of young people taught by conductors and coaches from the Steamboat Springs Orchestra.

Yampa Valley Science School:
A $16,000 Fund Board gift in 2006 to the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps kept the overnight science school afloat. Every 6th grader in Steamboat, Hayden and typically Soroco attends and participates in a community project such as planting cottonwood trees along the Yampa River Core Trail.