This week, Education Boothbay launched the public phase of "Our Children, Our Community," a three-year, $1.2 million campaign to help prepare Boothbay Region students for the future. Funded entirely by private donations, the campaign goes beyond what school budgets can cover, so that every student has access to the Boothbay Region’s amazing resources.

Education Boothbay is pleased to announce that significant early pledges and gifts have brought the campaign nearly halfway to its goal. To stay on pace, the organization seeks to raise $150,000 by the end of 2026, and it is asking for the community's help to get there.

Education Boothbay has supported local schools since 2000, funding projects such as equipment for BRHS’s makerspace, including a laser cutter, digital printer and CNC router, visiting artists and band instruments, and many teacher innovation grants.

Where the money goes

The campaign divides its goal evenly across three priorities:

• Ensuring Student Success through Place-Based Learning. Program design and staffing, work-study transportation and a Summer Partner Institute, so more of a student's education happens with the people and places of the peninsula.

• Advancing STEAM Learning. Advanced CAD software and training, a prototyping lab upgrade, robotics and AI kits, and marine and environmental field research.

• Enhancing Teacher Innovation and Student Enrichment. Teacher innovation grants, the Moore Music and Arts Education Fund, extended learning student expenses, and a new primary school playground.

Every dollar stays on the Boothbay peninsula, supporting students at Southport Central School, Edgecomb Eddy School, Boothbay Region Elementary School, and Boothbay Region High School. 

In their words

"Teaching early childhood education gives me a front-row seat to how early curiosity turns into lifelong success. Seeing our local students—including my own children and other family members—grow through our schools makes this campaign deeply personal. ‘Our Children, Our Community’ gives us the chance to provide our students and teachers with the exact tools, technology, and place-based experiences they need to thrive right here in the Boothbay Region,” says Kate Rice, BRES teacher and campaign co-chair.

"This is an incredible and generous community," said Bruce Harris, Education Boothbay board chair and campaign co-chair. "Leadership gifts are proof. The campaign now needs everyone else, and a gift of any size makes a difference. I believe the future of our schools is the future of our community, and our future is bright."

"Our teachers are creative and committed, and they're asked every day to do more with what they have. Education Boothbay gives them room to try the ideas that don't fit in an operating budget, and to keep building on them year after year," said Superintendent Bob Kahler. "That kind of steady support for experimentation and innovation is what turns a good school into an exceptional community resource where teachers, students, and community members are actively engaged in meaningful complex learning and problem solving for the benefit of their communities and beyond."

The volunteers behind it

The campaign is led by volunteers who represent Alternative Organizational Structure 98 (AOS 98) and the wider community. Co-chairs Kate and Matt Rice and Medea and Bruce Harris are joined on the campaign committee by Dr. Tricia Campbell, BRHS Principal; Adam Climo, who serves as treasurer, Superintendent Bob Kahler; Dr. Shawna Kurr, BRES Principal; and Paul Roberts, who chairs advance gifts. Education Boothbay thanks them for the months of groundwork that brought the campaign to this point.

How to give

Gifts of any size are welcome and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Pledges may be spread over the three years of the campaign, and campaign leadership is available to discuss larger gifts. Visit EducationBoothbay.org, email info@educationboothbay.org, or call (207) 633-2874. 

About Education Boothbay

Education Boothbay is a nonprofit that funds the tools, programs, and experiences Boothbay Region schools can't provide through their operating budgets. Working directly with teachers and administrators, it supports experiential learning in science, technology, the arts, and the community itself, so that every student on the peninsula has access to an education worthy of the place they come from. Learn more at EducationBoothbay.org.