Where does the funding go?

A quick look at how CEF supports Carbondale schools

A lot of the work CEF does happens quietly.

There’s no big announcement when a classroom gets new materials, or when a teacher launches a project to excite students about learning. It just… happens.

But those moments are exactly where community support shows up inside our schools.

For the 2025–2026 school year, the Carbondale Education Foundation committed funding in several key areas designed to support both students and teachers across our schools.

First, we funded $32,500 in school supplies for some of Carbondale’s most vulnerable students. This is critical, because every student deserves to start the school year with the tools they need to learn.

We also established a $30,000 experiential learning fund that helps teachers bring education outside the classroom. Now, things like field trips, guest speakers, and hands-on projects are all on the table for our children.

And, we committed at least $30,000 in teacher grants for classroom supplies and equipment across all Carbondale schools. Teachers have incredible ideas for engaging students. Grants like these help turn those ideas into reality.

In our first year of operation, community support also helped save music programming in our schools and provided additional teacher grants for classroom resources.

The goal is simple. If we support teachers, we expand the opportunities for our students. And thus, we strengthen our schools.

And when that happens, the entire Carbondale community benefits.