Editor’s note – Amount of Dixon funds available has been edited (next to the last paragraph) to show previous scholarships awarded .
Every student graduating from Greene County High School in 2019 and in years to come will receive at least a $500 scholarship, no strings attached. The scholarships are thanks to the generosity of Floyd Dunlop, who left the Greene County Consolidated School District Foundation $912,000 through his estate, and of Halycon Dixon, who left the school $600,000.
Local attorney Keith Pedersen, a 2004 Jefferson-Scranton graduate and a member of the School Foundation board, presented the idea of the universal scholarship to the Greene County Schools board of education Wednesday evening.
Pedersen explained the long history of the School Foundation, a 501(c)3 Type 1 organization established by the school board in 1973 to accept tax-deductible contributions for the purpose of providing high quality education and providing scholarships to graduating seniors.
The Foundation’s assets prior to 2018 were about $270,000. The Foundation generally receives $30-$50,000 each year and uses that for classroom projects and scholarships.
The Foundation’s assets are now at $1.1 million, and that money is invested to yield about 4 percent annually. Pedersen said that after much discussion, the Foundation plans to keep the Dunlop funds as a corpus and to draw off the interest every year to give every graduating senior a $300 scholarship.
The Class of 2019 will be the first to receive Dunlop scholarships. Pedersen said the scholarships can be used for college, to enter the military, to enter a trade, or in any other way. “Every student should be proud that they graduated from Greene County, and we intend to show them that we’re proud of that,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen reminded the board that two years ago the school (not the Foundation) received a $600,000 bequest from Halycon Dixon, to be used for scholarships. The board last year awarded 15 scholarships of $2,000 each from the Dixon funds.
Because of different regulations for the school vs the Foundation, the Dixon funds have limited investment possibilities. The funds are now growing at only 1.75 percent.
Pedersen asked the school board to give the Dixon funds to the School Foundation. That would increase the corpus enough to be able to draw off enough to make the universal scholarship $500.
Along with the universal scholarships, the Foundation will still award larger scholarships as it has in the past. There were 12 scholarships of $1,000 each given to members of the Class of 2018 by the Foundation.
School board member Steve Fisher asked if using the funds in such a public way would deter others from giving to the School Foundation. Pedersen hopes it will have the opposite effect, giving the Foundation a higher profile so more people think of donating to it or including it in their wills.
Board president Mark Peters asked what percentage of students continue their education after high school. School superintendent Tim Christensen said typically about 87 percent plan to but only 75 percent actually do.
Elementary principal Scott Johnson, a member of the School Foundation board, said that all graduates have expenses, even if it’s a rent deposit when they move out of their parents’ home. “If they’re going out to get a job, they’re becoming a productive citizen,” Johnson said.
Pedersen said the Foundation board has spent a year planning how to use Dunlop’s bequest. “We came to the idea that this is Greene County. We are Greene County Schools. This is something that sets us apart from almost every other school in Iowa,” Pedersen said. “We only have the opportunity to do this because we were given a gift, and so we want it to be a perpetual gift.”
Foundation board member Karen Lawton added, “It’s important to let every child know that we have valued their time here and their education. We value the fact that they received a diploma.”
Foundation board member Bruce Bahnson commended local attorneys for suggesting bequests to the various local foundations as they work with clients in estate planning.
The board agreed to give the Dixon funds to the School Foundation to be used as Pedersen suggested. Of the original $600,000, about $532,000 remains after awarding scholarships to 2017 and 2018 graduates. Some of the funds are in certificates of deposit that come due in October. The school will hold the CDs until October rather than pay a penalty.
Pedersen said he’s unsure what the universal scholarships will be called now that there are two funders. If the school board hadn’t agreed to relinquish the Dixon funds, students would have all received Dunlop scholarships.
