Broward School Board Member Maureen Dinnen Named ‘School Board Member of the Year’ by Consortium of Florida Education Foundations
Nov 24, 2010
Above: Maureen S. Dinnen
Broward County School Board Member Maureen Dinnen was named “School Board Member of the Year” for school districts with an enrollment of more than 50,000 by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.
About Maureen Dinnen
A 35-year veteran history and math teacher in the Broward County school system, Ms. Dinnen also taught history at Broward Community College. She has served as President of many influential organizations, such as the Florida Educational Association, the Florida Teaching Profession-NEA, the Florida Faculty Senate Presidents and both the United Faculty of Florida and the Faculty Senate at Broward Community College.
Active in many community organizations, including the Governor’s Children and Youth Cabinet, Broward County Historical Commission, Broward County Planning Council, Women’s League of Voters, Croissant Park Civic Association, Museum of Discovery and Science and the Delta Kappa Gamma Educational Organization, Ms. Dinnen holds a Master’s Degree in Social Science from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Barry University.
About the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations
The Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (“Consortium”) began in 1987 as a membership organization to provide a forum for the exchange of information and to develop resources for school district-wide education foundations in order to advance their ability to enhance public education at the local level. These efforts include networking and sharing best practices among education foundations, providing financial support and developing and communicating a statewide “voice” for education foundations.
The Consortium serves as the primary link between local public education foundations and regional, statewide and national initiatives. It leverages those relationships for the benefit of local education foundations and creates partnerships with businesses and foundations that impact students in the classroom and strengthen cooperation between the private sector and public schools.
Local education foundations, which serve as the conduit for private sector investment and community involvement in the public schools, raise more than 40 million dollars a year to support initiatives in their local school districts. These district-wide foundations invest in programs that are not funded through tax dollars. These privately-funded initiatives include programs such as scholarships, teacher retention and recognition projects, classroom grants, literacy improvement strategies, technical career education and support for low-performing students and schools. Out of 67 Florida school districts, there are 60 education foundations statewide.
Conservatively, 1,100 business and community leaders are represented on the boards of local education foundations. In a recent survey, these board members identified the following legislative and funding priorities for Florida education: literacy, increasing graduation rates, career and technical education, targeting low performing students, STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) and teaching quality.
The Consortium also represents the interests of education foundations in the Florida Legislature. Before the year 2000, education foundations did not have the benefit of a legislative match program, which was a successful characteristic of fundraising in higher education. Through the collaborative effort of Consortium members, it successfully advocated for the creation of the School District Matching Grant, which has been funded for the past six years. During this time, the Legislature provided more than $17.6 million dollars, which was matched dollar-for-dollar and funded projects through the education foundations.
The Consortium continues to support the License for Learning program, which provides local education foundations with a $20 donation for every education auto tag purchased in their county. Moreover, the Consortium plays a coordinating role in statewide fundraising and program efforts that are of interest to corporations and foundations looking at impacting the entire state of Florida.
News coverage of Ms. Dinnen’s honor is reprinted below:
Broward School Board’s Maureen Dinnen gets top honor from statewide group
November 23, 2010
By Carli Teproff, The Miami Herald
Broward School Board member Maureen Dinnen was named School Board Member of the Year for school districts with an enrollment of more than 50,000 by the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.
Dinnen will be presented with the award Dec. 2 at the consortium’s quarterly membership meeting in Tampa.
Every year the consortium selects a school board member who has shown outstanding effort and dedication to a districtwide education foundation.
Dinnen was nominated by The Broward Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports educational programs.
Last year, Broward Superintendent James F. Notter was named Superintendent of the Year by the consortium.