Vision

Small town, Big opportunities

Mission

Enhancing educational and innovative programs for students, faculty, and staff.

Goals

• Encourage community support in public education.

• Create a perpetual source of funding in support of competitive education opportunities.

• Recognize student and faculty achievement.

• Support the pursuit of innovative and diverse learning programs.

During the 2019-2020 academic year, several community members, and Superintendent Jeremy Thompson studied the process necessary to establish an education foundation as an additional avenue for providing supplemental funds to the Era Independent School District. With a change in Superintendents and the COVID pandemic, discussions came to a halt. Dr. Shannon Luis, Era ISD’s new Superintendent made the creation of the Era Foundation a top priority and in the summer of 2021 decided to move forward. Dr. Luis presented a resolution to the Board of Trustees to support the creation of an education foundation in May of 2021, and the Trustees approved the resolution unanimously. The foundation’s first order of business was the employment of Valerie Foster, CEFL, as an Education Foundation Consultant.

A planning session of District staff was then held in the summer of 2021 to identify funding priorities for the foundation that aligned with the school’s strategic plan. A group of community volunteers, dedicated to education, received a special invitation to meet from the Superintendent in June 2021 to hear the need, funding priorities and benefits of an education foundation for Era ISD. In July 2021, Articles of Incorporation were filed with the State, an organizational meeting of the Foundation was held, bylaws were drafted, programs were developed, and work began on policies and procedures. Application was made to the Internal Revenue Service for approval as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in November 2021 and on November 30, 2021 the Letter of Determination was received approving the application.