It's just too bad that these lazy kids weren't born with the kind of abilities Vince was, otherwise, they'd be able to get themselves a quality education without relying on the "state God."
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"This is a public problem, and it needs to be solved publicly," said Wendy Puriefoy, president of Public Education Network, based in Washington, D.C., which advocates school-funding equalization. "We can put people on the moon, we can go around the world and appropriately defend democracy in other parts of the world, and we cannot provide the resources for an adequate education for America's children?"
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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...22/MN43417.DTL
Parents try to cover schools' budget gap
Enterprising PTAs, foundations rescue some programs
Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Free public education isn't feeling so free for many Bay Area families these days.
Benicia High School freshman Nic Malianni is looking for a job to help his family defray the $1,000 it will take to help save the school's football, baseball and wrestling teams next year.
San Francisco parent Karen Roorda was so alarmed by the budget crisis at her son's middle school for next year that she asked her wedding guests to donate money to the school instead of giving her gifts.
And in Los Gatos, parents raised $1 million in just 10 weeks to save the jobs of 30 teachers who were facing layoffs.
State budget cuts that are putting the squeeze on schools are, in turn, squeezing the pocketbooks of parents.
More than ever, they are being asked to contribute more to private foundations or PTAs to pay for teachers' salaries, sports programs and so- called frills such as art and music.
And in at least 10 Bay Area communities, homeowners are being asked to approve new parcel taxes to support schools.
"Are you going to allow your child's education to suffer? I'm not willing to do that," said Colleen Jaffe, a middle-class Benicia parent who wrote out a $1,000 check at a school board meeting because she was angry that classes at her children's schools might increase in size. She has since founded a fund- raising group that hopes to raise $250,000.
"I will work my tail off to make sure my kids have an education in the public system," Jaffe said.
But some argue that the increase in fund raising is a sign that the system for financing public education is broken. They also fear that fund raising by parents has the potential to exacerbate inequalities between affluent and poor communities and to make legislators feel they are "off the hook" for adequately funding all schools.
LONG HISTORY OF DIGGING DEEP
Parent fund raising is nothing new, and PTAs and sports booster clubs have been around for decades. Then in the early 1980s, private foundations began to spring up in many Bay Area communities. This followed court orders equalizing state spending between rich and poor districts, and the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, which pushed California's per-pupil spending woefully behind other states.
But this year, the state is facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis that is pushing parent fund raising to new heights.
In Los Gatos, for instance, the Los Gatos Education Foundation bumped up its fund-raising goal from $185,000 to $1 million after it became clear that budget cuts in Sacramento might result in significant teacher job losses.
Terri Kent, the foundation's president, said that after learning on March 12 that as many as 30 teachers might lose their jobs, parents sprang to work to begin raising the $600 per child shortfall in funding through direct appeals. This week, they reached their goal. Of the $1 million they raised, $850,000 will go to the district to cover teacher salaries, and the rest will be spent as grants from the foundation.
"We knew it would be a huge undertaking, but we had very impassioned parents that knew that having 30 teachers pink-slipped was not a good thing," said Kent, who said the foundation fully expects to have to raise the same amount again next year to make up for budget shortfalls. "We're so proud of people for doing what they could."
'WORST TIME' FOR SCHOOLS
Educators say the sheer size of budget cuts this year are forcing parents to step up.
"This is the worst time that any of us who have been in education can recall. We have sunk to the bottom of the barrel in terms of funding education, " said Joanne Haukland, superintendent of the Benicia Unified School District.
In Benicia, the school board recently cut $208,000 from Benicia High School's sports budget, leaving parents and community members to raise the money if the school is to have a sports program next year.
Malianni, the Benicia freshman, said he has already participated in a weight-lifting fund-raiser and plans to do some tutoring -- and maybe a paper route -- to help defray the $1,000 the school would have spent for him to participate in three sports.
"It is really weird to hear that a public school is making you pay for sports. It's just tough on kids," said Malianni, 14, who last year donated just $75 to participate on the freshman football squad.
PARCEL TAXES IN WORKS
In San Mateo and Foster City, parents are working hard for the passage of $75 tax per parcel per year to try to prevent some teacher layoffs, to keep small classes, and to fund school libraries. It is one of 10 parcel taxes that will go before the voters on June 3.
"We can see how many teachers are disappearing. We have to start making money," said Kathryn Cross, a parent who has been campaigning for the tax to benefit the San Mateo-Foster City School District. "Everybody is very upset with Sacramento right now."
In San Francisco, parents at Hoover Middle School are trying to raise $108, 000 to pay for one full-time and one part-time credentialed teacher, said parent Rachael Grossman. Five teachers, two counselors and a librarian at Hoover have all lost jobs, she said.
Roorda, whose 11-year-old son Anthony will attend Hoover, was so aghast she decided to include a note asking her wedding guests to consider donating money to Hoover instead of giving a gift to her and her fiance. The invitations to the June wedding went out last week, and Hoover logged its first $25 gift a few days later.
"We're in an emergency situation," Roorda said. "You have what is considered, by many measures, a successful and good school that will struggle under the best of circumstances. But when it starts to unravel, it goes really fast. You can lose ground in a heartbeat."
PROBLEMATIC FINANCING
Education experts say it isn't surprising that parents are stepping up to support their schools. But they note that the approach does have problems, such as the fact it can exacerbate inequalities in school funding between wealthy and poor communities.
Bruce Fuller, an education and public policy professor at UC Berkeley, said that despite the fiscal crisis, state leaders are still keeping pressure on schools through testing and accountability measures, which is forcing schools to shed programs that don't narrowly relate to testing.
"In reaction, upper-middle-class communities won't put up with that narrowness," and they raise money to restore art, music and other programs, Fuller said. "In a sense, education is becoming privatized in well-off communities."
"The problem is we further separate and disadvantage kids from blue collar communities versus affluent suburbs," Fuller said. "It creates deeper inequalities, disadvantaging many middle class kids who go to typical schools - - they'll just be subject to drill and kill in math and languages."
Raquel Donoso, a single parent of a fourth-grader at Berkeley's Washington Elementary School, said that despite her best intentions, she has felt overwhelmed by the number of donations she is asked to make for her son's education.
Between PTA donations, school fund-raisers, and after-school care at the YMCA, she sometimes spends upwards of $400 a month. Earlier this month, she opted to skip going with her son to a Sacramento rally against education cuts because they would have to pay $60 for bus fare.
"I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore," Donoso said. "It is frustrating. In Berkeley, there is this big dichotomy between two-parent working families that have been donating, and a lot of families with single parents that want to do something but aren't able to. It is an uncomfortable situation to be in."
LAWMAKERS 'OFF THE HOOK'?
Other public education advocates say they worry that too much financial dependence on parents could lead to a climate where legislators feel "off the hook" for making sure all schools have adequate resources.
"This is a public problem, and it needs to be solved publicly," said Wendy Puriefoy, president of Public Education Network, based in Washington, D.C., which advocates school-funding equalization. "We can put people on the moon, we can go around the world and appropriately defend democracy in other parts of the world, and we cannot provide the resources for an adequate education for America's children?"
On that point, many parent fund-raisers agree.
"As much as we're opposed to (being forced to raise money), it's a crime that all these other states get more money for education, and we're supposed to have the education governor," said Lynne Young, president of the Menlo Park- Atherton Education Foundation.
In the Menlo Park City School District -- where 14 teachers just received lay-off slips -- 40 donors have written checks for more than $10,000 to the Menlo Park-Atherton Education Foundation during a two-year campaign that ends in June. The foundation recently gave $980,000 in "no strings attached" money to the school district.
"The dilemma is, it really should be funded by the state of California," said Trisha Garlock, director of Kiddo!, a foundation that is trying to raise about $600 per student for schools in Mill Valley. "But when the state isn't funding education properly, it isn't worth sacrificing a generation of students' education to make a point that might never be heard or responded to."
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E-mail Kelly St. John
kstjohn@sfchronicle.com.
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