When parents of Orono's elementary and intermediate school students heard at the end of July that their children's class sizes would grow, they decided to take action.
Through an e-mail and telephone campaign, the parents collected $180,000 in 14 days. That allowed the schools to hire four new teachers for grades 2, 4 and 5.
The group gave the money through the Orono Alliance for Education, which already had donated $250,000 a year to the district since 2000.
While the parents' initiative was uncommon, the idea behind foundations like the Orono Alliance is not.
Other west-metro districts, including Wayzata, Chaska and St. Louis Park, have foundations as well.
The Hopkins Education Foundation was founded in 1995. Its goal is to "fund innovative projects not normally funded by a normal operating budget," said Kathy Kannenberg, its president.
But citing stalled state funding and exhausted local tax levies, foundations such as those in Hopkins and Orono have started to go beyond the extras. Now they are trying to help pay the day-to-day operating expenses of their districts.
Last year, the Hopkins foundation launched an initiative called Securing Teachers and Resources (STAR). Spun off from the foundation, the organization raised money to keep teachers who might otherwise be laid off.
The fund collected $202,000 -- enough to keep about four full-time learning resource program teachers -- eliminating the need to reduce or eliminate elementary or high school programs this school year.
But some school officials say raising private funds to keep teachers is dangerous.
Wayzata School Board Chairman Greg Baufield said what schools need is constant funding year to year.
"It's certainly not good for a teacher to say we have money for you this year, but next year you don't have a job," he said.
While Baufield said the Wayzata board has not yet ruled out the idea of paying teachers with grant money, board members want to be careful not to get into a funding quagmire.
Kannenberg admitted that the funds raised in Hopkins would not be available in future years. The Hopkins foundation is not planning to continue the fund next year.
"The district's going to have to figure out what to do," she said.
Though more state funding would be appreciated, foundation directors said they do not think state funding will increase in the near future.
But could foundation funding hurt the possibility of the state providing more money?
Not a chance, said foundation members. The money provided by the foundations is just a drop in the bucket compared with the overall funding the districts need.
Jim Reid, board member for the St. Louis Park Public Schools Foundation, said $2.1 million was cut from St. Louis Park's overall budget this school year; the foundation granted $10,000 to the district for arts on Monday.
"It's scholastic ER," he said.
"I think it doesn't get the state off the hook at all," said Tammy Hauser, executive director of the Orono Alliance. "It's putting the pressure on to make changes more people realize are necessary."
Local school levy caps -- put in place by the state Legislature in the early 1990s with the intent of preventing wealthier districts from spending more on education than poorer districts -- have had the opposite effect, some school officials say.
Peter Levy, chairman of St. Louis Park's foundation, said wealthy suburbs are punished for being wealthy, with funding from their increased taxes going to other districts in need.
He said districts should be allowed to raise additional funds through referendums.
"If we're willing to spend the money for our kids, why shouldn't the money stay here, once we've satisfied the broader societal good?" Levy said.
Shruti L. Mathur is at smathur@startribune.com.