Colleagues and Friends: 

The Cherokee County Education Foundation (CCEF) was established in 2012 to create a mechanism for individuals and organizations to show their support for the Cherokee County School District (CCSD). I believe that there is no better way to secure our future than to ensure that our children are getting a great education. I am committed to the mission of CCSD and ensuring that our future is secure!

All my children either attended or are currently attending public schools and today my daughter and son in law are both teachers in the Cherokee County School District.

CCEF has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for grants to teachers to assist them with educating and growing our students. Thanks to many of you, CCSD had an outstanding 2018-19 school year and I would like to share with you just a few of our accomplishments. CCSD was named an Innovative District by The International Center for Leadership in Education and was one of only eleven school districts in the Nation to be recognized with this top award. CCSD ranks second among metro counties for average SAT Scores with the margin being 73 points higher than the National average and 68 points higher than the state average. CCSD also reached a new high in its graduation rate with 87.4% of the 2018 class earning their diploma within four years of entering high school and that is an improvement of almost 15 percentage points since 2012.

I promise you that every CCEF Board member is committed to ensuring that every child in Cherokee County gets the very best education possible, but we need everyone’s help in order for us to accomplish this goal. I am honored to have served on the Board of Directors since 2012 and thankful I work for Northside Hospital Cherokee, an organization that values education as much as I do.

Many Thanks,

about billy signature

Billy Hayes
Chief Executiive Officer, Northside Hospital-Cherokee
CCEF Board President