Gloucester's School Department has been struggling financially for most of the current decade. And those struggles remain - the gap between the funds available and the demands on those funds is significant.
But the Gloucester Education Foundation, a private, nonprofit group of interested citizens, is helping to fill that gap in ways both basic and innovative.
Before this week, the foundation had already collected more than $200,000 in donations or pledges from individuals, foundations and local businesses. Then this week came word that an anonymous local couple has pledged more than $1 million over the next three years to fund a partnership between the city's schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aimed at improving the science, math and technology curricula.
It will be called the Sea Initiative, because it will focus on maritime studies and Gloucester's historic connection to the ocean. It is expected to be a national pilot program for giving students hands-on activities that involve science, math and technology.
And it supports one of the two major initiatives announced earlier by the foundation - programs in marine studies and the arts - both of which generated enthusiastic support from students in focus groups.
The Marine Studies Program, in addition to working with MIT, is aimed at working with local organizations like the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center to create ways for students to study aquatic biology, chemistry, physics, ecology and environmental science.
The Gloucester Art Institute aims to expand offerings in music, dance, theater and the visual arts, starting at the elementary level.
The foundation is also committed to supporting basic education as well, with a districtwide tutoring program, after-school homework clubs, skill-building programs and funding at least one master teacher, who would serve as a program leader in the schools.
Perhaps the wisest thing the foundation is doing, however, is including a "sunset clause" in its grants, to make clear that this is not a permanent source of money - that the district must stabilize its finances so it can provide the basics without outside, private help.
The foundation has had worthy goals from the beginning. The donation of $1 million to fund a partnership with one of the world's great universities is proof that those goals have credibility.
And it is a signal that the ultimate goal of making the Gloucester schools one of the five top districts in the state is within reach.
