Wanted: $20 million for Science Endowment

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The Bronx High School of Science boasts the best in many respects. As one of the city’s seven specialized public high schools, it attracts top students and teachers. It was recently ranked the seventh best high school in state.

But the Bronx Science Endowment Fund thinks the school is not the best when it comes to one thing: its facilities. 

A few years ago, the endowment fund embarked on a $20 million Campaign for Bronx Science to give the school a face-lift. According to a brochure on the endowment fund’s website, the money will go to four specific areas that need improvement: the science labs, the technology infrastructure, the athletic facilities and meeting and study space.

“By improving and augmenting resources, we will ensure that our exceptional students continue to have extraordinary educational opportunities,” the brochure reads. “Through this Campaign, we will guarantee that their learning never suffers because they don’t have access to lab equipment or study in an inadequate library. And we will be able to accommodate students pursuing high-level extracurricular scientific research who today must use off-campus facilities.”

Bronx Science is part of a small group of elite public high schools with large endowments. In its 2014 tax filing, the Bronx Science Endowment Fund showed a balance of $6,313,382. A tax filing from 2013 showed the school’s alumni association had an additional $1,931,884. 

Fellow specialized high school Brooklyn Tech has an endowment that’s almost twice as large. In 2013, the most recent tax information available, the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation had $13,353,221.

All of that pales in comparison to what is likely the nation’s largest endowment for a public high school: $31,913,381 for the prestigious Boston Latin School.

Bronx High School of Science, Bronx Science Endowment Fund, 20 million Campaign for Bronx Science, Isabel Angell

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