ENCINO : Bank’s $5,000 to Aid School’s Computers

Encino Elementary School, which was adopted by Citibank’s Encino branch in September, will receive $5,000 from the bank to buy software for a planned renovation of its aging computer lab.

On its own, the school raised about $26,000 through the Parent-Teacher Assn. and by saving from the campus budget over the past several years. With those funds, the school will purchase 18 computers and two printers for its computer room.

But the bank’s donation was a welcome addition. Like many district schools, Encino Elementary is turning to the private sector to compensate for budget cuts over the past several years.

“It’s the wave of the future,” said Encino Elementary Principal Orlando Martinez-Miller of the relationship between public schools and private companies. “We just don’t have enough funds for everything we need.”