Writing to your Legislature for funding

[waialua359]

It would be best if you folks look at your school needs and work with your representative/senator on what it should entail.
Ours was about 10 pages long.
Just send me a PM request, and I can send parts of it.

We were awarded $750,000 for the 2010-11 School Year. Not sure on the details yet.
My biggest question was if we had to spend it all during '10-'11.

Because part of my "day" job includes purchases and coordinating programs in our complex, I am familiar with large purchases, sending jobs out for bid, and managing projects. Spending the funds will take some time following Hawaii procurement laws.
In 2005, I purchased a 14 passenger Robotics bus that was custom-ordered from the mainland shipped to Hawaii.
That process alone took me almost 8 months to get.

On another note, I would look into funding sources directly tied to the federal stimulus package.
Hawaii got about 91 million in which part was allocated to afterschool programs called ELO, Extended Learning Opportunities. It wont cover equipment/supplies, but pay teacher's $35/hour to work with students during the summer and next school year.
Robotics would be a perfect fit as it can be considered an after-school program.