The Deer Creek Schools Foundation supports Deer Creek Schools by raising money for the equipment, technology, and classroom items Deer Creek teachers and students need.
Why do Deer Creek Schools need more funding?
Deer Creek per pupil funding 2020-2021 school year: $5,952.46
Average per-pupil funding across the state of Oklahoma 2020-21: $8,307.46
$2,355 lower per pupil funding than the average across Oklahoma
Over $1 million of Lost Funding Per Year
Mission Statement
The Deer Creek Schools Foundation promotes and funds the academic and artistic achievement of all students and teachers of Deer Creek Public Schools.
Vision
The Deer Creek Schools Foundation prepares each Deer Creek Public School student for life’s future challenges in a global-based economy.
Core Values
We impact the academic success of every Deer Creek student.
We value creative and innovative education.
We value the stewardship of the contributions the foundation receives.
We value education as the means to every child’s potential and goals
We value being different from other public school districts.
We value participation from all Deer Creek School District stakeholders.
We value a culture of excellence.
We value the positive impact teachers have on students.
Financial growth is critical to our success; we value the patrons of Deer Creek Schools.
We value leadership.
Deer Creek Schools Foundation History
In 1980 a group of Deer Creek patrons felt there was a need for private financial support of the Deer Creek School district. This was partly in response to the lack of any significant commercial/industrial tax base within the school system. This resulted in the formation of the Deer Creek Schools Foundation.
Since that time, the foundation’s primary mission has been to fund special academic projects from Deer Creek teachers that were submitted for approval to the Foundation. Fundraising has always been the primary mission of the DCSF. This has been accomplished primarily by solicitation of Deer Creek patrons for tax-deductible contributions.
2022-2023 Officers
President – Barry Cunningham
Vice President – Robbyn Benn
Secretary – Paul Elder
Treasurer – Travis Koch
Past President – Jennifer Elliott
Trustees
Brian Bateman
Robbyn Benn
Barry Cunningham
Jennifer Elliott
Paul Elder
Gerald Elrod
Chris James
Travis Koch
Aaron Penix
Kyle Schulz
Steven Ward
Jack Wheeler
Jason Zaloudik
Dr. Danny Barnes (School Board Representative)
Dr. Jason Perez (Deer Creek School District Superintendent as district representative)
Executive Committee
Comprised of the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Deals with the day-to-day operation of the DCS Foundation.
Board Development Committee
Composed of various executive committee members and trustees. Its focus is on trustee recruitment, evaluation, and general governance of the foundation.
Grant Committee
Composed of trustees and non-trustee volunteers. This committee is crucial in identifying areas of academic need within the district, interfacing with school officials, reviewing teacher grant requests, and monitoring the grant implementation.
Public Relations Committee
Composed of trustees and nontrustee volunteers. This committee deals with all public relations aspects of the DCS Foundation. Organization of speakers for back-to-school nights, maintenance of the website, and press releases, are just a few of this important committee’s tasks.
Fundraising Committee
Comprised of trustees and non-trustee volunteers. The fundraising committee oversees all aspects of every fundraising activity of the foundation.
Golf Committee
Comprised and trustees and non-trustee volunteers. This committee handles all aspects of our annual golf tournament held in the spring.
Awards Reception Committee
Comprises of trustees and non-trustee volunteers. This committee’s job is to plan and execute the DCS Foundation’s annual academic awards ceremony.
Scholarship Committee
Comprised of trustees and non-trustee volunteers. The scholarship committee reviews scholarship applications for the 5 scholarships offered by the DCS Foundation.
Administration
The backbone of the enrichment foundation is the trustees. These trustees represent a diverse group of Deer Creek parents who have demonstrated a commitment to the DCS Foundation.
The governing power of the organization rests with all the trustees who are voting members. From the board of trustees, the executive committee is elected. The president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary make up the executive committee. The executive committee is responsible for the ultimate leadership of the DCS Foundation and its day-to-day function.
The DCS Foundation functions under a comprehensive and strict set of bylaws that are carefully followed.
Oklahoma City Community Foundation
After the DCS Foundation was formed, it was determined that the endowment required professional investment management. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation was chosen to manage the foundation’s investments.
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation is a local, well-respected, non-profit, public charity that specializes in the investment management of nonprofit endowments. Our association with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation allows us the have expert investment management by the nation’s 16th-largest community foundation.
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has literally hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in hundreds of different endowments. The expenses charged by the OKC community foundation for investment management is minimal compared to the benefits we receive from this locally operated, highly respected organization. The annual disbursement from the OKC Community foundation to the DCSF is calculated by averaging the total value of the DCSF investments for each of the past 12 quarters and disbursing 5 percent of that value each year. The amount of this disbursement combined with the contributions we receive that year from patron donations are used to fund the teacher grants and other activities.
“Thank you for funding my grant for T1 Graphing calculators. My students have already began using them. We recently investigated systems of linear inequalities using the calculators. Students were able to quickly manipulate the inequality to see how the solution changes. Student were fully engaged with technology in their hands! Thank you for the many, many hours that you volunteer to make our classrooms the best!” – Lisa Ritchie, DCHS teacher
