SCV Education Foundation officials provided classroom materials to Santa Clarita teachers Thursday, after an $18,000 grant made the event possible.

Learning tools were bought for Santa Clarita educators looking for new ways to connect students to their lessons.

The 16 material grants funded by the foundation were chosen because they would affect the largest number of students in the Santa Clarita Valley. Foundation officials estimate more than 6,000 students will receive a tangible benefit in their education because at least one of the grants was fulfilled.

“If it was up to me we would put out every single one,” said Renee Marshall, vice president of the SCV Education Foundation. “We want to make sure we get the biggest bang for the buck, because this is an investment that we’re making.”

Some of the grants were written to add new programs to classrooms. One asked for programmable robots to teach computer coding. Another requested unicycles and juggling equipment for PE classes.

“Every single year, you never know what’s going to pop up. We had never seen a request for unicycles,” Marshall said.  “The grant committee had to choose from 33 applications and looked at the potential benefit each one would provide.”

Other funded grants aimed at shoring up cracks in district funding. Several teachers requested musical instruments such as portable piano mats and tambourines. The final grant awarded was for an Arroyo Seco Jr. High band teacher looking to replace old equipment used by students.

“For our future musicians to have mouthpieces, we assume they’ve got it,” Marshall said. “And then you see a teacher passing around these 20 year old mouthpieces. That’s why we had to fill in.”

With help from the foundation, teachers who often spend out-of-pocket money can develop their classroom vision, Marshall said. Over the past 21 years, the SCV Education Foundation has fulfilled more than $500,000 in grants from Santa Clarita teachers.

“You spend so much out of pocket because you have these great dreams and aspirations and you want to provide everything for their students,” Marshall said. “But no matter how much they work getting grants and so forth, there are still gaps. This is our opportunity to fill in the gaps and invest in our community.”

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