Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant has made “TPS Proud” the rallying cry for the city’s school district. Now, with an ambitious agenda from a new executive director, the nonprofit foundation created to support the district will aim to leverage that pride to bring TPS more tangible support from alumni, local businesses, and the rest of the community.

The foundation, which has been run with volunteer leadership in recent years, recently tapped United Way and ProMedica veteran Erica Halada to lead the organization.

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Ms. Halada has big plans for the foundation. It can provide more than scholarships to a few dozen students each year. It can become the source of funding for many of TPS’ needs, including classroom grants, increased preschool opportunities, and capital projects.

Even more than that, Ms. Halada envisions using the foundation as a mechanism for connecting TPS with its alumni and with the Toledo area’s business community.

Ms. Halada wants to tap local businesses to provide volunteers, donate materials, or create programs at their companies that benefit TPS.

District officials often proudly point to successful alumni and hold them up as examples for current students. The foundation can do more to draw those distinguished graduates in and get them involved, sharing their skills.

Public school districts across the country have similar foundations to channel private donations into the programs their schools can use. Suburban districts and well-off communities do not need to rely on these foundations for much. Struggling urban districts like Toledo Public Schools, however, can use them to great advantage if they are well run and have ambitious objectives. It sounds as if, with the hiring of Ms. Halada, TPS Foundation could operate as the latter.

Uncertain or insufficient funding for public schools has prompted many districts to turn to their foundations to fill in the gaps. The best of these foundations have enthusiastic superintendents with whom they can partner, strong boards of directors who embrace an ambitious agenda, experienced executive directors, and a clear plan for solving district problems and advancing educational progress.

Ms. Halada’s vision for what the TPS Foundation can be should provide an opportunity for TPS to get more than goodwill and TPS pride from its graduates and the surrounding business community. It should be a chance to attract real, tangible support that can help boost graduation rates and test scores.

First Published November 27, 2017, 11:32 a.m.