About the Foundation

The Longview ISD Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt public corporation operating independently under a board of directors who serve without compensation. Members of the Foundation's Board of Directors represent a cross section of the community and are dedicated to our students and educators and their success.

The Foundation was founded in 1994 to provide additional funds beyond the normal operating budget for Longview ISD teachers, counselors, librarians and students. Donations to the Foundation are maintained locally and used to begin and/or enhance innovative academic programs and projects. Through the Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program, the Foundation improves student achievement, fosters innovation, and supports educators. By requesting contributions, the Foundation promotes community involvement from individuals, alumni, businesses, corporations, and school and civic organizations.

The Foundation also sponsors the annual Lamplighter Awards Banquet to honor educators and the students whose lives the educators have touched. All proceeds from this event benefit the Foundation's Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program, the Campus Initiative Grant Program, and the John W. Harrison, Jr. Academic Field Trip Grant Program.

Since 1996, the Great Rewards for Great Ideas Grant Program has funded 782 grants, returning $848,170.10 to LISD’s classrooms and enabling innovative teachers, counselors, librarians, and nurses to create new educational programs or to enhance existing ones so that they can provide the best instruction possible to all students.  These grants have funded programs and projects for students of all ability levels in a variety of disciplines.  In addition to strengthening academics, the grants have also funded projects in music, art, technology, character education, health and physical education, guidance and counseling, gifted and talented education, career education, and STEM and STEAM education.

Since 2008, the Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. has funded 52 Campus Initiative Grants for a total of $158,430.72.  The Foundation believes that this grant program, targeting overall campus improvement, complements the Foundation’s annual Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program. The Foundation believes that this grant program, targeting overall campus improvement, complements the Foundation’s annual Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program. 

Since fall 2019,  the Foundation has funded nineteen John W. Harrison, Jr. Academic Field Trip Grants for fourth and fifth grade and middle school students for $61,733.74.  Through this grant program, fourth and fifth grade students and middle school students have visited the following venues to extend classroom learning and experience hands-on learning:  the Perot Museum in Dallas; NASA in Houston; the Bullock Museum of Texas History in Austin; the state capitol in Austin; the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin; Sci-Port Discovery Center in Shreveport; Sky Ranch in Van; the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler; McShan Florist in Dallas; Texas Tulips in Pilot Point; the Dallas Museum of Art; IFly in McKinney; the World Aquarium in Dallas; and the Fort Worth Rodeo and Stock Show.

To be awarded academi field trip funding, teachers were required to clearly show how the trip and the learning experiences at the venue are directly related to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for the grade level and subject.  Teachersare also required to have pre and post trip assignments as well as learning assignments to complete at the venue.  For example, when eighth grade agriculture students visited McShan Florist and Texas Tuplips to learn about careers in the floral design industry, they were required to choose and pick tulips in the growing fields and then return to Foster Middle School and create a floral design based on what they learned from floral designers at McShan Florist.  Students learned about the billion dollar floral industry and how they could use their interest in agriculture and design in a career.

At Sky Ranch, fifth graders from Bramlette STEAM Academy and Ware East Texas Montessori Academy returned to campus to perform science experiments based on what they learned about earth science while at the ranch.  Visiting Sky Ranch gave these students an opportunity to study animals in person, learn first hand about soil conservation and erosion, and create and launch their own rockets using their knowledge of energy and propulsion.  The overnight experience also provided students a camping experience which most had never experienced.

At the Perot Museum in spring 2024, Bailey Elementary School fifth grade students enjoyed the solar eclipse interactive experience and then returned home to witness the actual solar eclipse, thus making their study of the solar system very timely.

Eighth graders at Foster Middle School visited IFly in McKinney, Texas, to experience actual flight as if they were birds and apply the properties of physics they had learned in class.

Through its three grant programs, the Longview ISD Foundation has returned a grand total of $1,087,081.00 to LISD classrooms and campuses in its twenty-nine-year history.

The Longview ISD Foundation also offers continuing education scholarships to Longview ISD educators who wish to remain in the classroom and provide direct services to students.  The Foundation especially wants to help educators who are pursuing advanced degrees and certification in critical teaching shortage areas, such as bilingual education, science, and math.  The  Foundation also wants to help educators who are teaching in the district's STEM and STEAM education programs.

The Longview ISD Foundation also offers college and technical school scholarships to Longview High School seniors, awarding five to eight $1,000 scholarship per year through the Foundation's Lobo Memorial Scholarship Fund.  The Foundation has awarded a total of $203,000.00  in scholarships, proudly helping students continue their education and success.