Beverly Hills Schools to Get $1.5 Million

A residents group has said it will donate $1.5 million to the Beverly Hills Unified School District to help the district avoid massive budget cuts.

Joy Wohl, a Beverly Hills Education Foundation official, told the school board last week that the group is donating its entire emergency reserve fund to counteract cuts the district has proposed to reduce a projected $3.7-million-deficit.

The district last month announced plans to trim up to $2.4 million from the projected deficit through layoffs and program cuts.

However, after the foundation announced its gift at Tuesday’s school board meeting, board President Frank Fenton asked the district staff to revise its cutback proposal.

The school board will approve a deficit-reduction plan Feb. 25.

Wohl said the foundation’s 31 directors unanimously approved the $1.5-million donation Feb. 3. The money will be given over two years.

The Beverly Hills Education Foundation is a private, nonprofit group that has given more than $1 million to the school district since it was founded 10 years ago. The group says one of its goal is to raise money to “preserve, maintain and enhance” the curriculum of the district’s schools.

The foundation raises most of its money through an annual dinner. The group also accepts private donations and sells advertising space in a calendar of school events sent to district parents.