Serving Community
The Berkeley Public Schools Fund (then Berkeley Public Education Foundation) was established in 1983, when Proposition 13 tax restructuring began impacting public schools. A group of Berkeley parents and community leaders, frustrated by the diminishing resources for public school classrooms, created the Berkeley Public Schools Fund.
As the only organization serving the entire district, pre-K to high school, we can:
- Direct resources to the schools, programs and students with the highest needs.
- Be a source for teachers beyond what PTA budgets can fund.
- Address district wide needs such as teacher professional development.
- Provide programs across grade levels like Be A Scientist in the 7th grade.
- Align with the District on larger change efforts and partner with donors to achieve them.
The Schools Fund is entirely supported by contributions from individuals and businesses in the community. Funds are directed to support students through grants for teachers, training and matching volunteers with teachers, and for specific purposes designated by fiscal sponsorship arrangements.
Year to year, operating costs for the Schools Fund are 20-25 percent of our budget.
Staff
Diane Dew has been with the Schools Fund since 2006 as Finance and Grants Manager. She has worked in non-profits and small businesses since the 1990s, and before that she worked as a systems analyst and computer programmer. Her passion is photography, and she brings that skill to the Schools Fund as well.
Contact:
schoolsfund@berkeley.net
Contact:
schoolsfund@berkeley.net
Diane Dew
Finance and Grants Manager
Valerie Kratzer has been with the Schools Fund since March 2016. She spent nine years as a parent leader and PTA President at Jefferson Elementary, honing her fundraising and special event skills. She has a background in Communications.
Contact:
valeriekratzer@berkeley.net
Contact:
valeriekratzer@berkeley.net
Valerie Kratzer
Development Coordinator
Valerie Kratzer has been with the Schools Fund since March 2016. She spent nine years as a parent leader and PTA President at Jefferson Elementary, honing her fundraising and special event skills. She has a background in Communications.
Contact:
haldunmorgan@berkeley.net
Contact:
haldunmorgan@berkeley.net
Haldun Morgan
Communications Coordinator
David Nakayama worked over twenty years in philanthropy, education, civil rights, and political arenas. He served in senior positions with the University of California, Berkeley, The J. William Fulbright International Center, the California Legislative Assembly, and the Japanese American Citizens. David's family represents three generations of Berkeley public school alumni.
Contact:
davidnakayama@berkeley.net
Contact:
davidnakayama@berkeley.net
David Nakayama
Director of Development
Jissel joined the Berkeley Public Schools Fund in 2021. Prior to joining, Jissel's work experience consisted of early literacy, service-learning, and volunteer program management through Bay Area nonprofits, including Jump Start and Peer Health Exchange. Her approach to education is rooted in a social justice lens that critically examines institutions and strives to center equity, dignity, and respect for students and families.
Contact:
jisselpoblete@berkeley.net
Contact:
jisselpoblete@berkeley.net
Jissel Poblete
Volunteer Programs Manager
Erin has served as the Schools Fund's Executive Director since 2013. Erin spent the prior 15 years as a professional city planner and community advocate for housing. Erin comes to the Schools Fund from her activism, organizing and fundraising experience on housing and livability issues in Berkeley and she loves the creative work of engaging the Berkeley community to support teachers and students.
Contact:
erinrhoades@berkeley.net
Contact:
erinrhoades@berkeley.net
Erin Rhoades
Executive Director
Duffy Ross has served as the Director of Education for Naturebridge and as a district-level instructional coach and a 4th grade teacher in the Oakland public schools. She was most recently a Peer Coach and Teacher Leader in the New Leaders Emerging Leaders Program.
Contact:
duffyross@berkeley.net
Contact:
duffyross@berkeley.net
Duffy Ross
Director of Programs
Board
A native of Barcelona from Italian roots, Anna has been a supporter of the Schools Fund since she first arrived in Berkeley in 2005 and on the Board since 2019. She is the mother of two girls who attend King Middle School and Berkeley High and she is the CEO and Founder of District Homes, a real estate boutique company.
Anna Bellomo
Board Member
Lea Baechler-Brabo joined the Schools Fund Board in 2018 and has been active as a parent and professional in the Berkeley schools since coming to Berkeley in 1996. Lea is an advocate for equity in education and has used her role as a parent leader to be sure our schools welcome and listen to the diverse voices of our community. Lea is currently an education communications consultant. She is the proud mother of three boys who attended Berkeley schools; her twins are off in college and her youngest is now attending Berkeley High School.
Lea Baechler-Brabo
Board Member
Maya Glenn, a native Berkeley resident and Berkeley Public Schools Alum, joined the Berkeley Public Schools fund in 2019. She earned her B.A. from UC Berkeley and her Master’s in Public Health from Indiana University. While living in Indiana, Maya and her husband founded D.R.E.A.M. Alive Inc. a non profit organization, focusing on mentoring, education and career development for youth of Indianapolis. Maya has four children and has had the privilege to serve on the board of non profit organizations locally and abroad focusing on youth and education.
Maya Glenn
Board Member
Tasha Henneman is the current Chief of Policy & Government Affairs for PRC. Formerly, she served as the District Director for Senator Nancy Skinner and as the Education and Health Policy Advisor for former Mayor Tom Bates. While with the City of Berkeley, Tasha led the Kindergarten Readiness Workgroup as part of the 2020 Vision Initiative and was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Berkeley Promise Program. She has a 6th grade son who attends Sylvia Mendez.
Tasha Henneman
Board Member
Eli Kennedy is the Chief Executive Officer of SMASH, the Summer Math and Science Honors Academy, an educational organization offering academic learning and experiential engagement in STEM for students of color. Eli has served as a director at the Broad Foundation and served in leadership for various educational companies and non-profits, including Platform Learning, a tutoring company focused on low income students. He has a daughter at Washington Elementary and is a graduate of Berkeley public schools.
Eli Kennedy
Board Member
A former founding member of APT Life Sciences and Arda Technologies, Madan Kumar has managed engineering and technical teams on three continents. He thrives in dynamic, innovative environments like the one he helps guide at CloudBase. He’s also proud of his non-profit work on workforce development, education, water and sanitation. Madan finds happiness in family, cooking, eating, running and serving on the Berkeley Public Schools Fund Board.
Madan Kumar
Board Member
Will Lana
Board Member
Oscar Luna is a finance and management consulting professional. His career started in Buenos Aires, Argentina and most recently, he has worked on finance projects for UC Berkeley, allrecipes.com, and Boeing. Oscar received his MBA from Columbia Business School in New York City. He has two children in the Berkeley Public School District. He is a member of the Berkeley Rotary where he is active in their volunteer programs with UC Berkeley students.
Oscar Luna
Board Member
Bobby Lutzker joined the Schools Fund board in 2019. He is a lawyer who advises life sciences companies in licensing and collaboration transactions. He has also worked with small businesses, including helping Berkeleyside launch its $1 million direct public offering and later convert to a non-profit organization. His kids go to Sylvia Mendez Elementary, and he is grateful to the teachers and staff for the love and effort they give for families in the community.
Bobby Lutzker
Board Member
Yasi Nouri Massih was on the Schools Fund board from 2009-2016 and was the Board Chair. She attended Malcolm X, Willard, and Berkeley High before going to Cal for her undergraduate work. She has worked in the biotech industry and recently completed her Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. She has three children, two of which are currently in Berkeley public schools. Yasi was introduced to the Schools Fund through former board members Judith Lubman and Amy Roth.
Yasi Nouri Massih
Board Member
Reynaldo Santa Cruz is committed to improving equity in public education, following a thirty-six year career as a bilingual teacher, elementary school principal, assistant superintendent and Superintendent. His late wife RoseAnn, retired from the District in 2009. Reynaldo recently published a book about his father, WWII and baseball in the late 1930’s in Tucson, Arizona.
Reynaldo Santa Cruz
Board Member
Dennis Schrag is a Berkeley native and product of Berkeley Public Schools, K-12. After attaining a BA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, he spent nearly 10 years as a broadcast journalist and then received his MBA from the University of Oregon. Dennis has been a non-profit development professional for more than 12 years working in higher education, children's health care, after school sports mentorship programs. He currently serves as the Senior Director of Individual Giving for Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area. Dennis has a daughter at Berkeley High School.
Dennis Schrag
Board Member
Lynna Tsou is an adjunct professor at BATTI (Bay Area Teacher Training Institute) where she teaches and mentors educators and is a founding family member of a Mandarin-immersion school, Yu Ming Charter School. As a school psychologist & co-owner/general manager of The Coder School Berkeley, Lynna is passionate about supporting children & families to best meet their social-emotional and learning needs and is committed to educational equity & social justice. Lynna received her BA & PhD in educational psychology from UC Berkeley.
Lynna Tsou
Board Member
Marsha Weintraub has been a community member of the Schools Fund Grants Committee since 2009. She taught in the West Contra Costa School District for 34 years as an elementary school teacher, a Title I resource teacher, and a Resource Specialist. A Berkeley resident for most of her adult life, she wants to support educators in their efforts to create a high quality, 21st century education for Berkeley Public School students.
Marsha Weintraub
Board Member
Founding Members
Mary Friedman was one of the early founders of the Berkeley Public Schools Fund (then Berkeley Public Education Foundation), which began in 1983 in response to Proposition 13 tax restructuring. She served as the organization’s volunteer Executive Director for 17 years, and she has been consistently on the Board ever since. She has also been a member of the Metro Board of the YMCA of the Central Bay Area since 2000. Her children and grandchildren have attended Berkeley schools.
Mary Friedman
Board Member
Allan ‘Chuck’ Miller is a local workplace civil rights lawyer who put three children through the BUSD. In 1983 when his daughter’s school, now known as Arts Magnet, was threatened with closure, he with others active on that issue founded the Schools Fund, and he has been active ever since. Chuck feels strongly that public education is a foundation stone of our democracy.
Allan ``Chuck`` Miller
Board Member
Alumni Advisors
Karthiga Anandan joined the Schools Fund Board in 2011 and was the Board Chair. Karthiga works as a realtor in the area. Prior to her current job, she worked in high–tech and was trained as an engineer. Karthiga has been very involved in fundraising at her children’s schools and joined the Schools Fund Board to further utilize these skills and fundraise at the community level. She currently has two children in a Berkeley Public School and has lived in Berkeley since 2001.
Karthiga Anandan
Emeritus Advisor
John Caner is the CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association. He has over twenty years of business, non-profit, and community development experience. John served for three and a half years as the Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Oakland where he significantly expanded programs and funding, and has served on the boards of several Berkeley organizations. John has a long-time interest in education, having served as a volunteer teacher’s assistant at Willard Middle School, volunteer instructor with the Presidential Classroom, and an entrepreneurship mentor with BUILD.org.
John Caner
Board Member
Laurie Capitelli is a three-term Berkeley City Council member and has served on the Schools Fund Board since the 1980’s when his own children were in the Berkeley schools. Laurie was a high school history teacher before becoming a real estate agent in the 1970’s at Red Oak Realty, where he still works. Laurie is heading up efforts on the Berkeley City Council for universal access to pre-school and addressing substance abuse at Berkeley High.
Laurie Capitelli
Emeritus Advisor
Marisita Jarvis has been an active volunteer in the Berkeley Public Schools since her children attended Berkeley High. She was one of the founding members of the Academic Pathways Project at that school and is committed to work to improve education for all of our students. She thinks the Berkeley Public Schools Fund works very effectively to achieve that goal. She works for the Urban Land Institute in San Francisco, where she is the director of the UrbanPlan Program. She joined the Schools Fund Board in 2003 and is the Co-Vice Chair of Grants.
Marisita Jarvis
Board Member
Chris Hudson became involved with the Schools Fund as a spring luncheon sponsor in the early 2000’s. He is a partner in Hudson McDonald, a Berkeley-based real estate investment and management company. He attended UC Berkeley as an undergrad and has lived in Berkeley for more than 20 years. His two children currently attend Berkeley High School, and his wife is a physician at UC Berkeley. In addition to his work for the Schools Fund, Chris serves on the board of the Computer Technologies Program and is active in the Urban Land Institute.
Chris Hudson
Board Member
Karen McKie served on the Schools Fund Board from 2000 to 2011, retiring as Board Chair. Karen was pivotal to community efforts to save music in the Berkeley public schools and served as the Parent Coordinator for the BHS Jazz Ensemble 1993-1999. Karen also helped to restore the high school’s orchestra and marching band. She partnered with the previously established Joffe Music Fund to create the Joffe/Boatwright Music Scholarships to support youth striving to excel in the BUSD music program. She was a founding member of both the Berkeley High School Development Group and the AP Program. Karen has been a Berkeley resident since 1971 and has two sons who attended BUSD public schools and graduated from Berkeley High School.
Karen McKie
Emeritus Advisor
Ruben is the Director of Local Government and Community Relations at UC Berkeley. For much of his career, Rubén has worked with local community organizations and city government, as well as with state and federal policy makers. He was the Senior Director at Oakland-based PolicyLink, where he led efforts in research, public education, training, and technical assistance to strengthen community and civic participation in local decision-making and economic development and coordinated the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color.
Ruben Lizardo
Board Member
Josh Miller was a member of the Berkeley Public Schools Fund Board from 2015 to 2021 and served as its Board Chair from 2019-2021. Josh works in the philanthropy sector as a professional grantmaker with expertise in grantmaking strategy, nonprofit capacity building, and funder collaboration. Josh received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and a BA from Brown University. Josh currently has two children in the Berkeley Public Schools.
Josh Miller
Board Member
Locke Schultz Jaeger joined the Schools Fund Board in 2014 and is the Development Chair. Locke is a strong (some say fierce) advocate of Berkeley Public schools. She attended Berkeley schools and now has three children getting a Berkeley school education as well. As a parent, Locke is an active participant in the PTA, the classroom, and in the community. Locke has seen the value of the support of the Berkeley Public School Fund in the classrooms, schools, and the lives of the students and is delighted to join her efforts with so many other Berkeley School supporters to continue to strengthen the Schools Fund.
Locke Schultz Jaeger
Board Member
Abby Smith joined the Schools Fund Board in 2015 and is Board Chair. Abby is a Principal in Bain’s San Francisco office, and she is the leader in Bain’s North America Education Practice working primarily with California District leaders and several leading charter school organizations. She has also spent time working with UC Berkeley on their transformation with a focus on organizational design. She serves on the Tuck Annual Giving Advisory Board and is the Head Agent for her Dartmouth class. She is a graduate of the Berkeley Public Schools and a former Berkeley High math teacher. Abby lives in Berkeley and has four young children.
Abby Smith
Board Chair
Annual Reports
Erin Rhoades
Executive Director
erinrhoades@berkeley.net
Duffy Ross
Director of Programs
duffyross@berkeley.net
Haldun Morgan
Communications Coordinator
haldunmorgan@berkeley.net
Diane Dew
Finance and Grants Manager
schoolsfund@berkeley.net
Valerie Kratzer
Development Coordinator
valeriekratzer@berkeley.net
Office Location
2020 Bonar Street, Suite 130
Berkeley, CA 94702
Call Us
510.644.6244
Email Us
schoolsfund@berkeley.net
Donation
& Mailing Address
PO Box 2066
Berkeley, CA 94702
Tax ID
Tax ID #94-2918219