Farmers National Bank Presents Check to Community Foundation

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Farmers National Bank Presents Check to Elk County Community Foundation

Recently Famers National Bank presented a $3,500 check to the Elk County Community Foundation. These funds will be included in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC) which then will make grants available to area public schools to support innovative educational programs that do not fall within the typical academic program. The funds for these innovative programs are administered and distributed through the foundation, which has been designated to serve as an Educational Improvement Organization by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

During 2011 the Elk County Community Foundation spent $32,400 through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program . St. Marys, Johnsonburg and Ridgway Area School Districts were able to apply for grants for programming. These grants impacted nearly 3,500 students throughout the county.

TheJohnsonburg Area School District has used the grant money to update and purchase equipment that included whiteboards, LCD projectors, laptops and numerous other pieces of equipment. It supplied many of their teachers with updated equipment and also it provided some of their teacher’s technology equipment for the first time.

The Ridgway School District was able to purchase a total of four smart classrooms and on smart response system. Their goal is to outfit all of the classrooms with smart technology in order for the students to have the knowledge they need to compete in our changing world. These responders work with existing technology in the classroom to allow students to respond instantaneously to questions from the teacher. The results are then graphed on the SmartBoard in the classroom which allows the teacher to effectively assess student performance.

At St. Marys Area School District their goal is to continue to provide the teachers and students the resources to be competitive in the 21st
century. The grant monies were used to purchase technology for the district. An additional four interactive whiteboards and accessories were purchased and installed in the Middle School. The interactive white board will enable the teachers and students to maximize the
on-line resources. An additional laptop was also purchased for use in the training for the District staff.

Inaddition to Farmers National Bank, other businesses that contributed though the State EITC program this year was PNC
Bank, EQT Productions, Highmark Casualty Insurance and Open Flow. Any entity authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and subject to certain taxes is eligible to apply. Tax Credits are limited to 75% of the businesses contribution with a aximum of $100,000 annually. If a business agrees to make the same contribution for two consecutive tax years, it may receive a tax credit equal to 90% of its contribution.

If businesses wish to participate, they must submit a brief application to the DCED. The application can be found at www.inventpa.com.
The Foundation also has applications and further information available to assist with the business application process.