From direct budget allocations to accessing federal funding, educators look anywhere they can to obtain funding for their physical education programs. Here are four success stories of teachers and administrators finding funding to purchase heart rate technology for their physical education program.
School District budget
In West Des Moines, Iowa, Brian Rhoads found funding in the district’s curriculum budget. As a physical education teacher-turned-administrator, he knew that the funding existed but that P.E. had missed out on it for several cycles. He drafted a data-rich proposal to implement heart rate monitors into the district’s P.E. curriculum and the administration granted the funding.
“Physical education has been left out of those funds for many years – no one knew to ask for it,” he said. “Well, I asked for it. It was perfect timing because we were in our curriculum adoption process, so the district simply allocated what we needed. A lot of money has gone unused because people weren’t tapping into it.”
Participants warm up before a community fundraiser held at Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Texas.
Superintendent’s Discretionary Allocation
In designing their heart rate-based program, teachers at Maury River Middle School applied for – and received – a grant to purchase monitors to use with a 21st Century Community Learning Center Afterschool Program and then bought a set through the career and technical education program. Their heart rate inventory doubled, however, when the new superintendent, Dr. Phillip Thompson, allocated funds from his discretionary budget as well.
Federal Funding
Middle school students across the Irving (Texas) Independent School District are using IHT Zone heart rate monitors after Health and Physical Education Coordinator Sandi Cravens received funding through the district’s Every Student Succeeds Act allocation. The U.S. Department of Education released funding to each state to be divided based on ESSA’s specific guidelines. Through the Title IV provisions of supporting safe and healthy students and the effective use of technology, Cravens crafted a proposal that Irving’s Director of Federal Funding Fernando Natividad approved.
“I was ready to try to give as much detail as needed,” she said. “Once I explained the program and the capabilities it offered, he decided that was enough and approved the program.”
Community Service Organizations
Teachers in Minnesota and Kansas paid visits to local community service organizations such as the Lions Club and Rotary International to inform community leaders about tools that would help students learn to be healthy. Fosston (Minn.) High School teacher Ben Hemberger met a local hospital administrator during his Rotary Club presentation and found a key ally in his quest to develop healthy students.
“The CEO of Essentia Health, the hospital in Fosston, he was there as part of the Rotary,” Hemberger said. “He talked to me afterwards and said they’d like to be a part of it.” The hospital donated the remaining funds necessary for Hemberger to purchase the heart rate monitors.
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