April 2025 Newsletter

Dear Community Members,

As you've likely read in the papers, the Roaring Fork School District is dealing with some major financial challenges due to issues ranging from declining enrollment, unprecedented increases in the cost of insurance, financial challenges at both the state and federal level, and numerous financial errors created amidst significant leadership transitions in the last few years. We have faith in the new superintendent and CFO, and we believe they'll get the district back on track, but not without some very hard decisions in the coming years.

While we cannot solve all of the district's financial problems, we do believe CEF has an important role to play as we support our schools through this difficult period. It's our responsibility to show more love and support for our schools than ever. Last month, we threw a teacher and staff appreciation party at the RVR Barn where all employees of Carbondale public schools were invited to come have some drinks, eat pizza and snacks, and win a bunch of gift cards we collected from various local businesses. It was a small but important show of community support.

In difficult times, it is the responsibility of a community to come together to weather the storm. At CEF, our goal is to significantly expand fundraising and support for our schools to ensure teachers and students never have to go without. We can collectively work to ensure our local educators can still dream up the best possible learning activities and solutions for their students. As the district works through the shortfalls in the budget, we must stand behind our schools and make sure they know that this community has their back. Please consider stepping up however you can this year so that Carbondale schools can continue to thrive amidst the uncertainty. If we all lean in, our teachers, staff, and students will undoubtedly have an incredible 2025-2026 school year.

CEF Selected as Cowboy Up Beneficiary in 2025!

The Carbondale Education Foundation has been selected as the beneficiary for the 2025 Cowboy Up Carbondale celebration slated for August 22, 2025. This is the second year in a row that we’ve been picked and we’re honored to receive such incredible support from Cowboy Up and the community. All proceeds from the Cowboy Up Carbondale event go directly to our teacher grant program, allowing teachers and building leaders to request grants for their students through a simple application.

$5000 Challenge Match Now Live!

A very generous anonymous donor has put forward a matching donation of $5000. This means that for every dollar we bring in up to $5000 your contribution will automatically double! Please consider making a contribution to your Carbondale Education Foundation.

Five Dollars for the Future

CEF is launching a campaign asking everyone in our community to commit to a recurring $5 monthly donation. In today’s world, $5 is about the cost of a cup of coffee in our local coffee shops. We ask that everyone skip a coffee day and instead make a recurring donation via Paypal to ensure the Foundation is well equipped to support our community’s most important asset, our children!

In our March meeting, the CEF Board of Directors committed $90,000 to support our educators through the 2025-2026 school year.

• $30,000 to purchase school supplies for our most vulnerable student populations

• $30,000 to support experiential learning across all five public schools in Carbondale

• A MINIMUM of $30,000 for our teacher grant program to allow our teachers easy access to request funds for important classroom and schoolwide projects.

Thank You,

CEF Board of Directors