Birdville Education Foundation reports $150,000 grant cycle, launches Peer Helpers Plus for elementary schools

Sharon Milius, president of the Birdville Education Foundation, updated the board on Sept. 25 about the foundation’s grant activity and new programming for the district. The foundation awarded more than $150,000 during this grant cycle, provided an additional $25,000 special grant for the district autism program earlier in the year, and reported it has given $2,412,000 directly to support Birdville ISD since its founding in 2001.

"We have given over $2,400,000 directly supporting the educators and the kids of the school district," Milius said. She described changes to the foundation’s application process this year — including shortening the grant application to one page and increasing individual grants to $5,000 and campus/department grants to $10,000 — and said the foundation plans to increase annual grant funding to $200,000 next year and $250,000 the following year.

Milius highlighted two district grants she called especially impactful: robotics supplies for Career and Technical Education (CTE) students and a small after-school reading program funded at a teacher’s request. "We were able to do a district grant to the CTE division department to provide robotics supplies to kids," Milius said. She noted the foundation prioritized funding requests with evident direct student impact and that nearly all eligible applications were funded, with only about $5,000 of eligible requests unfunded.

The foundation also announced a partnership with the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation to implement Peer Helpers Plus, a peer-to-peer suicide-prevention and awareness program similar to Hope Squad. Milius said the program will be implemented in every elementary school for $69,000, providing peer-to-peer supports, parental and educator portals, and real-time monitoring to enable quicker intervention. "We are partnering with them to provide this service in every elementary school for $69,000," she told trustees.

Board members expressed appreciation for the foundation’s work and indicated continued support, with one trustee presenting an envelope to mark the board’s annual donation to the foundation. The foundation said it judged grant applications blind and emphasized volunteer oversight and community partnership in its funding decisions.

The foundation noted its continuing support for teacher recognition, campus teachers of the year, and PTA support, and said pictures and reports of grant activities are shared with the district to highlight classroom impact. Milius closed by saying the foundation is expanding its scope to work on mental-health prevention strategies and innovative classroom supports districtwide.