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
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
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
Board
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
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
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
Chris Hudson joined the Board in 2008. He first 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
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
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
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
Josh Miller joined the Berkeley Public Schools Fund Board in 2015 and currently Chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the Strategic Campaign Committee. Josh works in the philanthropy sector as a professional grantmaker with expertise is nonprofit capacity building, funder collaborations, and program evaluation. Josh received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and a BA from Brown University. Josh has two children, one of whom is currently in Berkeley public schools.
Josh Miller
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
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
Anna Bellomo
Board Member
Bobby Lutzker
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
Dennis Schrag
Board Member
Josh Daniels
Board Member
Maya Glenn
Board Member
Ruben Lizardo
Board Member
Emeritus Advisors
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
Tracy Hollander joined the Schools Fund Board in 2013 and is the Board Secretary and Vice-Chair of the Governance Committee. She is a credentialed teacher and has taught in schools in New York City and the Bay Area. She has been a Berkeley Public Schools parent since 2004. Tracy is currently President of the PTA Council and is also a community organizer with Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action (BOCA). Tracy became a Schools Fund Board member because she wants to support teachers in jump starting our children’s futures.
Tracy Hollander
Board Member
Nichelle R. Kitt joined the Berkeley Public School Fund in 2013 and currently serves on the Fundraising Committee. Her previous professional work was with Bananas, a Northern Alameda County Resource and Referral Agency. She is the mother of two children who are students in the Berkeley Unified School system. Currently, she is completing her Masters of Social Work with an emphasis on Mental Health.
Nichelle Kitt
Board Member
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
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
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
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
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