"It's gone beyond frills at this point," said David Wagman, president of the Peninsula Education Foundation, which is asking Palos Verdes parents for $200 per child to save the jobs of 59 teachers. PTAs and students are also holding fundraisers.
Education officials acknowledge that these fundraising groups are more successful in wealthier areas, increasing the divide between the haves and the have-nots. And they can make financially strapped parents in affluent districts feel like second-class citizens.
Achievement gap
"Parents in well-to-do communities can raise significant sums of money to augment their local schools' budgets, while schools in low-income neighborhoods fall further behind," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "This is part of the reason that we have an achievement gap in California. We have an economic and moral imperative to close this gap."
In the Anaheim City School District, four of every five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, a poverty indicator. A district volunteer-led foundation raises about $50,000 annually through employee contributions and fundraisers to send all sixth-graders to overnight science camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.
The Anaheim parents are never asked to do more than volunteer for small fundraisers, such as bake sales or selling gift wrap or entertainment books.
"It's not even a consideration to be able to ask them for money," said district spokeswoman Suzi Brown. "When we look at what other districts are doing, they've got foundations that have paid staff. We don't compete with that at all. We are in a completely different league."
David Long, California's education secretary, acknowledged the inequity but said money from nonprofit organizations and federal funds earmarked for poorer schools help level the playing field somewhat. However, he said the only way to fix the state's finances is for the Legislature to approve Schwarzenegger's budget stabilization act, which would put away surplus revenue during economic booms for use in leaner times.
"We do not want to continue to have these conversations" about cuts, he said. "It's hurtful for the children of California."
Meanwhile, more than 600 foundations across the state are raising money for public schools and districts, said Susan Sweeney, executive director of the California Consortium of Education Foundations. In recent months, she has seen an increase in the number of calls from parents interested in starting such groups.
