Houston Charter School Receives a $50,000 grant for Campus Libraries
International Leadership of Texas awarded grant money from the Ed Rachal Foundation
DALLAS— International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas), a free, public charter school system with two K8 campuses in the Katy and Westpark areas was awarded $50,000 from the Ed Rachal Foundation, which provides grants that are to be used for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes within the state of Texas. Each ILTexas campus will be awarded $25,000 to help furnish books and other supplemental learning materials in their campus library.
“We are so thankful for the funds awarded by Ed Rachal Foundation,” said ILTexas Superintendent Eddie Conger. “A school’s library can be a treasure trove to a young child’s learning and a form of life support to an older student tackling the challenges of advanced assignments.”
While public funding is available for the construction of ILTexas’ schools, it is not available for supplying resource material within a new school’s library. Studies have proven that increased library usage relates significantly to higher standardized test scores, particularly among minority students. The needs of an ILTexas library are especially unique because all reading, reference and other informational resources must be accessible to a trilingual population of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese students and speakers.
“We cannot wait to put the funds to use at our Katy and Westpark campuses,” shared Dr. Ostrova McGary, ILTexas’ Houston area superintendent. “When the two Houston area schools opened in September 2016, each library contained one set of 30 laptop computers and an abundance of empty shelving. With classroom needs taking precedence when unallocated financial support becomes available, it is grants like the one provided by the Ed Rachal Foundation that provides ILTexas another stream of financial support that ensures we are providing quality educational resources to our students.”
ILTexas Katy and Westpark campuses opened its doors last fall and currently has more than 2,000 students enrolled. ILTexas provides a trilingual, college preparatory education that requires students to master the English, Spanish and Chinese languages with opportunities to study abroad, participate in competitive athletics and graduate with an associate’s degree. Currently, ILTexas has one additional K8 campus in the southeast Houston area under construction, as well as, a high school set to open for the 2017-2018 school year. For more information, visit www.iltexas.org.
About International Leadership of Texas
At International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas) our mission is to prepare students for exceptional leadership roles in the international community by emphasizing servant leadership, mastering the English, Spanish and Chinese languages, and strengthening the body, mind and character. ILTexas teaches students from a global perspective where they have an opportunity to become trilingual, graduate with an associate’s degree and study abroad. Founded in 2013 by retired Marine Corps Infantry Officer and Dallas Independent
School District high school principal Eddie Conger, ILTexas serves more than 10,000 students with 10 locations spanning across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Houston. For more information, visit iltexas.org.
