The state has no more money to add to the school budget and neither do local authorities. Instead, it’s up to the citizens themselves to lend a hand, and perhaps even benefit from their efforts. This Sunday, Drive for Schools, sponsored by the Boardwalk and Toyota and Subaru of Santa Cruz, held its drawing for the winner of this year’s raffle. The winner was Hillary Hirano of Santa Cruz, who has two sons attending school in Scotts Valley. Her prize was a choice between a Toyota Prius, a Subaru Outback or a check for $25,000. The real winners, though, were the 67 public schools across Santa Cruz County, who will share in the $384,000 that this year’s raffle brought in.
Hirano hasn’t yet decided whether she will take a car or the cash. The schools, on the other hand, already know what they plan to do with the proceeds. Some schools, like the Delta Charter School, will use it to buy more laptops for their students. Watsonville’s Ohlone Elementary School will use their share to pay for a part-time physical education resource specialist (a fancy term for a gym teacher). Just about every school can put the money to good use. Thanks to the Drive for Schools raffle, now they actually have the money to do that. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
