LPIE

Three Streams. Four Different Jobs.
 

 
State funding is essential, but it isn’t enough for the education our community expects — and how much our schools receive isn’t something Lafayette decides.
 
Parcel taxes are local, voter-approved dollars that stay in our community and are dedicated to supporting our public schools. Lafayette students are served by two school districts, each with its own voter-approved local funding measures. In June 2026, the community renewed this support by approving Measure H for the Lafayette School District, and this November, voters will consider Measure W for the Acalanes Union High School District. Together, these local measures help narrow the gap between state funding and the cost of providing the educational programs our community values, though they do not close it entirely. 
 
The LPIE annual campaign funds today’s people and programs in every school — given and spent each year, reaching 100% of students.
 
The LPIE Endowment funds what’s next — a permanent fund built to create new opportunities in our schools, for this generation and every one after, without depending on any single year’s fundraising.
 
Each one does a job the others can’t. State funding can’t stretch to the education our community expects. Parcel taxes can’t fund beyond their ballot language. The annual campaign can’t promise anything beyond this year — the Endowment is the only one built to, and it’s the only one whose job is what comes next. Great schools happen when all four jobs get done — and every one of them exists because this community invests in it, year after year. 
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Support Your School — Donate Today

Today’s Education, Every Year: The LPIE Annual Giving Campaign


 
The Annual Giving Campaign is LPIE’s engine for today. Every year, gifts from families like yours directly fund people and programs across all six Lafayette public schools:
 
•   Credentialed art, music, and science instruction
•   Wellness and counseling support
•   Expanded advanced placement and elective courses
•   Technology and classroom resources
•   Supplies in every department
•   Academic intervention for students who need it
 
Here’s the key thing: this funding is spent the same year it’s given. It renews every summer because the needs renew every summer. That’s not a flaw — it’s the design. The Annual Giving Campaign goes wherever today’s students need it most, in the year they need it. And it reaches everyone: 100% of students in Lafayette’s public schools benefit from LPIE-funded people and programs each year.
💙🧡Support Your School — Donate Today 🧡💙

 
Today’s Education, Every Year: The LPIE Endowment


 
Think of the LPIE Endowment as an orchard, not a harvest. When someone gives to the Endowment, that gift is planted permanently. The fund is invested and grows. When distributions begin, only a small portion will be paid out each year, so the original gifts keep working, year after year.
 
It’s the same model great universities use, and it does something the annual campaign can’t: it creates a permanent, self-sustaining source of support that doesn’t depend on any single year’s fundraising — or on Sacramento.
 
The annual campaign answers the question “what do our students need this year?” The Endowment answers a bigger one. It was built to create new opportunities — new programs, new possibilities, and investments our schools couldn’t otherwise reach — and to keep creating them for students who haven’t started kindergarten yet. That was the vision of the foundational families who established it: today, tomorrow, and beyond.
 
Thanks to visionary early donors, as of September 2026, the Endowment has grown to over $15 million — and it is still building toward the point where it begins making annual distributions to our schools. Every gift moves that day closer.
 
☕️Join Us at Our Monthly Coffee Talk☕️
Friday, Nov 6, 9:00-10:30am, Lafayette Public House

We’re Hiring at LPIE!
 
LPIE is hiring for two part-time positions, and we’re looking for enthusiastic, organized, community-minded individuals who are passionate about supporting our Lafayette public schools.
 
Events and Development Manager (20–30 hours/week)
This position will work closely with our amazing volunteer board and committees to lead and support LPIE’s fundraising events, auctions, business partnerships, and donor engagement efforts. We’re looking for someone who loves bringing people together, building relationships, and collaborating with volunteers to create successful events and fundraising opportunities that support our schools.
 
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE EVENTS AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGER JOBDESCRIPTION
 
Programs and Operations Coordinator (26–32 hours/week)
This position will help keep LPIE running smoothly, supporting our educational programs, day-to-day operations, and communications, including newsletters, social media, and our website. We’re looking for someone who is organized, detail-oriented, creative, and enjoys working with a wonderful community of volunteers.
 
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS COORDINATOR JOBDESCRIPTION
 
Both positions are based in Lafayette and offer the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in our local schools.
 
Interested in applying? We’d love to hear from you! Please send a resume and cover letter to danielle@lpie.org.

And even if these opportunities aren’t right for you, we’d be so grateful if you could share them with friends, neighbors, and anyone in your network who might be interested.

 Saddle Up for the Holiday Hoedown Benefiting LPIE
Saturday, Nov. 7, 6:00-9:00pm | Balestrieri Family Farm
Dust off your boots and celebrate the season at a Holiday Hoedown! Join us for a festive night of line dancing and holiday cheer at the beautiful Balestrieri Family Farm. Gather your friends, meet some new ones, and enjoy a fun-filled evening while making a difference for our schools.
Get your tickets HERE. $100 per person gets you a night on the dance floor with a DJ and line dancing instructor, plus two drinks to toast the occasion. If you work up an appetite, dinner will be available for purchase.
Thanks to the generosity of parent sponsors, every dollar from ticket sales will go to LPIE to support our schools and students.

Ask anyone why they moved to Lafayette and you’ll hear the same answer: the schools.
Here’s what many families don’t know: state funding doesn’t cover all of it. Our districts are among the lower-funded in California, and the basic funding they receive falls thousands of dollars short per student of what our schools actually cost to run.
Lafayette’s education is built on three streams. State funding provides the foundation. Local parcel taxes and community giving through LPIE make up the difference — and both of those exist because this community invested in them.
Take away any one stream, and the education our kids receive changes.
Over the next three weeks, we’ll take the local pieces one at a time — what each does, what it doesn’t do, and why our schools need all of them. Two minutes each, no jargon.
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Support Your School — Donate Today

 Saddle Up for the Holiday Hoedown Benefiting LPIE
Saturday, Nov. 7, 6:00-9:00pm | Balestrieri Family Farm
Dust off your boots and celebrate the season at a Holiday Hoedown! Join us for a festive night of line dancing and holiday cheer at the beautiful Balestrieri Family Farm. Gather your friends, meet some new ones, and enjoy a fun-filled evening while making a difference for our schools.
Get your tickets HERE. $100 per person gets you a night on the dance floor with a DJ and line dancing instructor, plus two drinks to toast the occasion. If you work up an appetite, dinner will be available for purchase.
Thanks to the generosity of parent sponsors, every dollar from ticket sales will go to LPIE to support our schools and students.

Diamond Business Partner Spotlight — Martin Homes
LPIE is grateful for the long-term continued support of Martin Homes, one of Lafayette’s premier real estate firms, led by Erin and Darrick Martin.
Martin Homes combines real estate expertise with extensive experience in home design, construction, and development. In addition to helping clients buy and sell homes throughout the area, they develop and build homes from the ground up. That experience gives them a unique perspective—not only on the value of a home, but on the qualities that make a neighborhood and a community truly special.
For Martin Homes, Lafayette’s exceptional schools are inseparable from the strength and desirability of the community itself. Excellent public schools, vibrant neighborhoods, a welcoming downtown, beautiful open spaces, and a close-knit sense of community all contribute to the quality of life families seek when they move here. But they also believe those things cannot be taken for granted. Maintaining what makes Lafayette special requires continued investment from the families, individuals, and businesses who benefit from it.
Click here to learn more about why the Martin Homes Team has proudly supported LPIEfor nearly a decade.

 
 Saddle Up for the Holiday Hoedown Benefiting LPIE
Saturday, Nov. 7, 6:00-9:00pm | Balestrieri Family Farm
Dust off your boots and celebrate the season at a Holiday Hoedown! Join us for a festive night of line dancing and holiday cheer at the beautiful Balestrieri Family Farm. Gather your friends, meet some new ones, and enjoy a fun-filled evening while making a difference for our schools.
Get your tickets HERE. $100 per person gets you a night on the dance floor with a DJ and line dancing instructor, plus two drinks to toast the occasion. If you work up an appetite, dinner will be available for purchase.
Thanks to the generosity of parent sponsors, every dollar from ticket sales will go to LPIE to support our schools and students.

LPIE is currently at 45% of our annual fundraising goal, and we need our community’s help to close the gap.
Every gift helps fund the people and programs that enrich the educational experience for our students. If you haven’t yet made your annual gift or pledge, please consider donating today and help us keep Lafayette schools strong.
Donate today and help us reach 100%

Did you know you can Pledge Now, Pay Later?
 Fall is chaos, we get it, so consider this a friendly wave (not a honk) from the pickup line.
Why it matters: Lafayette’s two school districts are among the lowest-funded in California. State and federal dollars fall short by thousands per student every year, and LPIE fills that gap with smaller classes, art, music, science, electives, and AP courses.
PER-STUDENT FUNDING GAP
$5,626 Lafayette School District (TK-8)
$4,728 Acalanes (9-12)
The easy part: Pledge Now, Pay Later. Commit today, pay anytime before June. No minimum, no wrong amount, no pop quiz.

Once you’re in, you’re officially off our ask list. Everybody wins (but mostly the kids).
 Pledge Today!
 

From LPIE’s The Slice —  Meet Your LPIE Reps

Check out this article from LPIE’s new newsletter, The Slice, which should have hit your inbox this week. In it, you’ll meet the parent volunteers representing each of Lafayette’s six schools. Get to know the friendly faces connecting families, campuses, and LPIE this year.
Click here to meet your reps.

LAST CALL: Stress-Free Parking While Supporting Our Schools
LPIE has just a few remaining ParkSmart Annual Passes through an exclusive Buy It Nowopportunity. These passes are only available through LPIE, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Best of all, 100% of proceeds go directly to LPIE to support Lafayette students.

• Unlimited access to more than 100 participating ParkSmart parking lots (viewparticipating locations here).
• Skip parking apps, meters, and kiosks
• Never worry about expired parking sessions or surprise parking tickets
• One flat annual price of just $1,000 (about $83 per month)
• Every purchase directly supports LPIE and Lafayette students 

Only a few passes remain available. Secure yours today before they sell out.

Stress-Free Parking While Supporting Our Schools
LPIE has just 25 ParkSmart Annual Passes through an exclusive Buy It Now opportunity. These passes are only available through LPIE, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Best of all, 100% of proceeds go directly to LPIE to support Lafayette students.

• Unlimited access to more than 100 participating ParkSmart parking lots (viewparticipating locations here).
• Skip parking apps, meters, and kiosks
• Never worry about expired parking sessions or surprise parking tickets
• One flat annual price of just $1,000 (about $83 per month)
• Every purchase directly supports LPIE and Lafayette students 

With only 25 passes available, we don’t expect them to last long. Secure yours todaybefore they sell out.
 

Your investment in LPIE directly supports your child’s Acalanes classroom, teachers, and overall educational experience:

• Expanded AP and elective course offerings
• Smaller class sizes and academic intervention programs
• The College & Career Center and college counseling services
• Wellness Center resources and student support staff
• STEM, world language, visual and performing arts, journalism, and hands-on learning programs
• Student clubs including Mock Trial, Model UN, Robotics, and other academic clubs
• Leadership opportunities and student engagement programs
• Classroom resources and supplies

These opportunities have become part of the exceptional educational experience that generations of Lafayette families have worked together to build for our students.
 
Our goal is 100% participation. Whether your family gives $100, $500, $2,000, or any amount in between, every gift makes a meaningful difference for our students.
 
Your child benefits from LPIE every single day. Join our community in investing in our students and helping keep Acalanes High School exceptional.
 Give Today 

Last Call for the 6th Annual Poker Tournament
Friday, Aug 21 | 6:00pm

Don’t wait — ticket sales close Monday, Aug 17 at 12:00pm! Gather your friends, reserve your seats, and join us for an unforgettable evening of poker, great food, drinks, and community — all in support of Lafayette schools.

Purchase your tickets today at LPIE.org