Annual Appeal - Support French in Tucson

[FrenchinTucson]

As Tucson’s French school, IST offers the only opportunity for
children in Tucson to learn the French language and because our
programme is aligned with ”Les Nouveaux Programmes de l’Ecole
Primaire” (fevrier 2008) the only opportunity for Tucson children to
reach France’s national standards. As the taxman approacheth, I would
like to ask you to consider assisting families send their children to
our school.

IST is an independent school; we receive no funds from local, state or
federal government. We need your support to keep French alive in
Tucson so please consider donating your state taxes to provide
scholarships, and/or making charitable donations to our Capital
Funds : Land & Buildings, Scholarships (specifying French is ok!!),
Endowment or General.

Thank you! Please read below for more information, and please contact
me with any queries of concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Robert Young
Head of School
International School of Tucson
Tucson’s French School
www.InternationalSchoolofTucson.com
Open the World to Your Child


Our Mission is to “Open the World to Your Child” and we implement our
Mission through :

 Education for an International Community
 Language Immersion
 Values for a Global Society

As an independent school, we set our own policies and procedures, we
make decisions based on our qualifications and experience, we are
directly answerable and responsive to our parents and our students,
and we do so without any government funding.

However, offering and maintaining quality independent education is
expensive and our costs increase every day. Our only sources of funds
are our parents through Tuition Fees, and our friends and supporters
through fundraising and donations. So as to keep our Fees at an
affordable level, we rely on the generosity of people like you who
believe in quality independent education and in IST’s Mission. Through
such generous support we have been able to offer Scholarship
assistance to families who might otherwise have been unable to achieve
such an education for their child(ren).

If you pay Arizona taxes, state law allows you to specify $500
(individuals) or $1 000 (married couples filing jointly) be allocated
from the state’s general revenue pool to fund Private School
Scholarships. This is at no cost to you, it is money you have to pay
anyway.

Arizona law allows you to choose how this portion of your taxes is
used!!
Use your taxes to support French education in Tucson.

The Scholarship programme works through a “tax credit” and costs you
nothing; it is not a tax deduction although many taxpayers can claim
it as both. If you have yet to pay your 2009 Arizona taxes, simply
make a donation to a School Tuition Organisation* (“STO”) and claim it
as a credit on your tax return. It is as easy as that!

If you have already paid your Arizona taxes (such as through payroll
deductions), make the donation to an STO* and then claim it back as a
refund. You may make your donation as a large lump sum right up to a
few seconds prior to midnight 31 December 2009. Next year, you may
also take a “zero deduction” from your monthly salary and make your
donation in smaller monthly payments.

If your tax liability is less than $500 / $1 000, you are able to
donate up to the full amount and then, on your Arizona tax return,
note that you are carrying forward the unused credit; up to five years
of credits can be carried forward. You may also be able to claim
donations made to an STO* as a federal deduction.

The Tax Credit Scholarship programme allows you to choose how this
element of your Arizona taxes is spent. When making a Tax Credit
donation, you may specify that the funds go to (a) a general private
school scholarship fund administered by the STO, (b) scholarships at a
specific school, such as the International School of Tucson or (c) a
specific student (although this may not be your own child). Please
contact us for more information and a donation form.

Please note that the Private School Tax Credit is in addition to the
Public School (extra-curricular) Tax Credit (please ask us for a list
of public school programmes we support), and that both Credits must be
claimed before 31 December.

*IST works with the Institute for Better Education
(www.IBEScholarships.org), a registered STO which receives your
donations and issues you the necessary receipts for submitting with
your tax return, and which also ensures Scholarships are awarded
according to statute. This is not tax advice; for advice specific to
your situation, you should always consult with a tax professional.

We welcome your assistance in making an IST education more available
to the young people of Tucson.