16 June, 2011
At its June 6 General Meeting and End-of-Year Celebration, the HPTA Membership voted unanimously to approve a budget of over $165,000. The budget will fulfill the HPTA’s technology funding goal of making all classrooms at Elmwood, Hopkins and the Middle School “Smart,” which means they will each have either a SmartBoard or Epson Brightlink Interactive Projector.
Technology in the schools makes up the largest portion of the budget, with $82,579 to provide two Epson Projectors and three Smartboards for Elmwood School, nine Epson Projectors for Hopkins School, twenty-one Epson Solos for the Middle School and an iPad cart for the High School. For the first time, all classrooms in grades 2-8 will be “Smart.” Although Center School infrastructure cannot currently support SmartBoards in every room, the HPTA will continue to support Center School by funding enrichment programs, teacher appreciation and grade level activities.
Enrichment programs make up the next largest portion of the HPTA 2011-12 budget at $52,900. Although next year’s enrichment programs are not finalized, previous programs have included Black Snake Woman and Traveling Medicine Dog at Center School, High Touch High Tech at Elmwood, Poet Lyn Hoopes at Hopkins, Having Fun with Pyramids and Pharaohs at the Middle School and the Hispanic and French Lecture Series at the High School. Other large budget items include $11,000 for teacher professional development and $3,100 for college scholarships.
The HPTA raised approximately $140,000 this year from its fundraising efforts, while HPTA savings from previous years will make up the remainder of the budget for next year. The HPTA’s largest fundraiser this year was the annual auction, which brought in $43,000 between the online auction and the Children’s Gallery family fun event. Fittingly, the auction theme this year was “Be Smart - Support our Schools.” The next largest fundraiser was the relatively new Carnival, which raised $18,000. Square 1 Art also continues to be a strong fundraiser, bringing in $12,000, which was more than last year.
“As I finish my term as HPTA president, I would just like to take a minute to say thank you on behalf of the HPTA to our supportive community, including our members, board members, teachers, administrators, sponsors, advertisers and our hundreds of volunteers,” said outgoing HPTA president, Cindy Bernardo. “Thank you Hopkinton, we couldn't have done it without you!”
For three years in a row, HPTA Membership has hit a record high. At the end of the year membership is up to 643 members (a 5% increase from last year), which includes 589 family memberships and 54 teacher memberships. Annual dues are $15 per family or $7.50 per teacher. Membership is now open for the coming school year. Joining now will cover membership throughout the 2011-12 school year, and entitles members to take part in HPTAConnect Online Discussion Forum and Classified Network on BigTent. Both facilitate connections with other families on a variety of topics over of the summer, while official HPTA communication channels are quiet. Register online.
