Kevin Keenley for Reed School Board

By Kevin Keenley

We need to relentlessly focus on improving the educational experience for our families, while accepting and planning for the fact that our district is confronted with increasing enrollment and escalating costs. We need to develop creative solutions to fund our aspirations for the future, and I believe I am uniquely qualified to help our board and community do just that.

We have big challenges ahead, however. The enrollment in our schools is 36% higher today than in 2005. Even without increasing enrollment, salaries and benefits costs representing 84% of the operating budget will rise each year. Enrollment will likely continue to increase, which will result not only in additional personnel costs, but greater program and facilities costs as well. Adding to this, the curriculum for our schools will be undergoing a massive shift in the coming years to the Common Core Standards, which are national in scope and a departure from the current curriculum. This is very exciting for our students, but also very challenging for our educators and administrators, and will require additional training and resources expenditures.

We will not be able to rely on property taxes, the primary source of funding to run Reed schools, to increase sufficiently (if at all) to keep pace with the increase in costs necessary to maintain, let alone improve, the education of our children. Further, we must not allow class sizes to increase to "pay for" the escalation in costs.

In some ways, we are a victim of our own success: Our enrollment continues to rise because families are joining our community due to our excellent schools. We have strong board and administrative leadership, a highly-experienced faculty, an active PTA, and a well-run Foundation. While the "numbers" can appear daunting, the good news is that with strong parental involvement and sound board oversight, we can continue to thrive as a school district.

Developing Creative Solutions. If we are to continually improve the curriculum and the overall school experience for students and their families, the Reed School Board will need to devise and implement innovative strategies to ensure that we have the budget to achieve our goals. There are obvious steps we can and will take, such as growing the Foundation and minimizing expenses which do not directly impact the education of our children. Beyond this, however, we need to think and act more creatively. Let me provide a few examples:

1. Shared Services. Basically, we need to constantly seek new ways to share the cost of services among the three Reed schools and other school districts, resulting in lower costs for all. While this is not a new concept, I believe it has been under-utilized and could be an important contributor toward reducing costs which are not directly tied to the classroom.

2. School Bus Expansion and Efficiency. With two kids in two different schools, and with the future prospect of three kids in three different schools, I am a "customer" of the bus service and understandably an ardent supporter. While no longer a direct cost in the Reed budget, as it is paid for by parents directly, there are opportunities to reduce the financial burden to parents. If we are able to encourage more families to utilize the bus service, we can add more routes, make them more efficient, and leverage the costs over a broader base of families. Even if utilization of school busing is not for you, imagine the joy of travelling down Tiburon Boulevard at 8:00 a.m. with a hundred or so fewer cars on the road.

3. Summer Programs. Summer school was eliminated in 2011, as the participation was not high enough to justify the cost of the program. I am a big supporter of summer programs, be they academic or purely "fun", and believe we can create a great program that is a positive contributor to the district budget. The common perception is that summer "school" is merely an academic program for students who need extra help outside the school year. What if we were to utilize our school facilities over the summer to have activities for all students? Parents who wished to participate would choose from a combination of programs that would include both academic and more "summer camp" activities, and pay moderate fees for each "class" selected. This would result in a cost-effective alternative to summer camps, and our kids can be with their classmates. The school district can utilize its facilities, spread its fixed operating cost over the summer period, and the program could make a positive contribution to the school budget.

The above are merely some examples of what we can do to improve the educational experience, while either reducing the burden on our budget, or maintaining cost-neutrality. There are no doubt many more creative solutions that our parents and administrators have, and I hope as your elected board member I will have the opportunity to explore them all. There is no question that with the right parental involvement and board oversight, we will have the ability to financially accommodate the continued enhancement of our children's education.

My Background. I am well-qualified to tackle the financial challenges that lie ahead, while never compromising our children's education. I hold both undergraduate and master degrees in finance, and my professional experience includes roles as CFO and board member for several companies and non-profit institutions where critical and creative financial solutions were necessary to achieve success.

I am a father of three, with a fourth grader (Cate) and a second grader (Abigail), as well as a "future" Reed student (Callen). My wife Diane and I are very active in the Reed district and in the Tiburon community, and will continue to invest our time volunteering in myriad academic, athletic, and social activities that will benefit our community. I founded and manage Fundamental Capital, a San Francisco based private equity firm that acquires small growth companies and builds them into much larger and more successful enterprises. Throughout my career, I have served on numerous boards, including Schwinn Cycling and Fitness, where I served as Chairman and was a recipient of the national Outstanding Young Turnaround Manager award.

While I have honed my strategic and financial planning skills in the for-profit world, I have devoted significant time to non-profit boards as well. One example is Juma Ventures (http://www.juma.org), where I served for several years as a board member, and the last two as Vice Chairman. Juma is an innovative and award-winning youth development program focusing on providing employment opportunities and college preparation services for underserved high school students. Through my work at Juma, it became very apparent to me that effective school boards, and more importantly, the involvement of parents in schools, are absolutely critical to the ultimate success of students.

The Election. On November 8th, voters in the Reed School district will cast two votes for three candidates running for the school board. The two candidates joining me in this election are great people, and I am proud to be associated with them. I ask that you look at each of our qualifications, and our perspectives on the challenges and opportunities, and decide which two candidates will best represent your goals for Reed schools in the coming years.

My view is that the biggest challenge the Reed School Board will face is to find creative ways to manage our fiscal budget to maximize the benefits and academic experience for students and their families. If you agree with my position, and feel my qualifications are right for the job, then I hope I can count on your vote on November 8th.

Kevin Keenley