Development
Program Assessment
UHS is proud of the program we offer our students but to support our program we need your help. While UHS is a public school the cost of our program exceeds the money given to us by the State of California. As a result, we ask all parents to make a voluntary annual contribution of $600 per child, which we use to defray the costs associated with our program. Our request of $600 amounts to about $3.30 a day per student.
We believe our high school program offerings are far more expansive than those of a traditional public school. (Students in a comparable private school could expect to pay $7,000-$10,000 per year.) The following are just a few of the things your contribution will help us maintain. Compared to other schools:
- UHS maintains an average class size of 20 (freshman classes are higher, sophomore, junior and senior classes lower) compared to 35 in neighboring schools.
- UHS gives each student one book a month to keep as part of our 48 Books program.
- UHS students take Fresno State classes for free and in some cases free Fresno State textbooks are also provided.
- UHS provides a counselor ratio that is 200-1 compared to the 400-600-1 ratio elsewhere.
- UHS students can take as many as ten classes a year compared to the 6-7 locally.
- Most schools charge a fee for students in musical groups (CW charges about $500; BHS $450; Bullard $700 for Band and $300 for choir); UHS does not charge.
- UHS is nationally ranked by US News and World Report, which helps our students applying to college.
Despite the fact that UHS provides more services we actually have less money to spend on programs than neighboring schools. Local districts possess or own their facilities, and the only costs they incur are maintenance and upkeep. That is not true for UHS. We pay both these costs, but we also must spend a substantial part of our budget on facilities. At the moment this includes rent on our portable buildings, and in the near future it will include the mortgage on our new facility, hence the need for this assessment and the current push to raise other development money to outfit our new building.
Fundraising for our new facility
“School of Dreams Campaign”
UHS is very excited that in the fall of 2008 we will be breaking ground on our new facility. It will include 37,500 sq. feet and provide 22 classroom spaces including 4 science labs, three music performance rooms and a Physical Education room. While we have state money to build, we are a long-way from having all the money we need to furnish and equip our school. In the 2007-08 school year the School of Dreams campaign designed to support the new building raised $200,000. We hope to exceed this in the 2008-09 school year
Ways to Give
Contributions may be given by mail or the internet. Please go to the donate page to find instructions.
