Post by momto4 on May 10, 2010 6:55:36 GMT -5
www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-school-giving-gap-20100503,0,6953879,full.story
Chicago-area schools turn to parents for help raising money
Guidelines adopted to guard against disparity in classroom
By Tara Malone, Tribune reporter
Hundreds of Oak Park parents cried foul last month when a school board member suggested that parent-teacher organizations might help raise money to improve technology in District 97 elementary schools.
The firestorm wasn't about fundraising so much as it was about fairness: the fear that some schools could collect more than others, widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in a district that prizes its diversity.
"If you're saying, 'We can do better shrubbery outside the school because we raise more money,' well, that's nice. But technology cuts to the bone," said Oak Park parent Libbey Paul, a vice president of the district's PTO Council. "You start having disparity in the classroom."
As school districts battle deficits that are forcing teacher layoffs and reduced programs, volunteers who more typically host back-to-school play dates and assemblies are increasingly collecting money to keep art in the curriculum and new books in the library.
"The thing with private contributions is, it always used to be the icing on the cake. Now we're talking about it being the cake itself," said Mike Griffith, a senior policy analyst with the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.
This creates a dilemma for public school officials. If they turn down the money, kids might go without. If they accept it, they risk inequities. And if they require that donations be equally distributed, parents might be less willing to give.
Now, several area districts are refining their gift-giving policies to make clear for parents and booster clubs what is allowed and what's not.
Private donations represent less than 1 percent of all school funding nationwide. They matter, though, because such contributions often pay for after-school programs and academic extras that cash-strapped schools cannot afford.
States vary in how they manage it. New Mexico, for instance, counts parent support and private donations as local revenue. The more money that schools receive locally, the less help they get from the state, according to New Mexico's system of funding education.
Utah and Michigan do not address private contributions in their school funding formulas. Both states, though, redistribute tax revenues across the state to guard against financial imbalances, essentially taking money from well-off districts and spreading it to those with more need.
Illinois takes a hands-off approach, leaving local schools to draw the line themselves.
Elgin-based School District U-46 this year drafted guidelines for giving when community members asked how they might help ease the brunt of a $44 million deficit. The state's second-largest school district drew the line at hiring personnel because of equity concerns.
"No, you can't fund a teacher, thank you. But let's talk about what might be appropriate" said Karen Fox, chief of family and community engagement.
Chicago Public Schools sets few limits on what parents can contribute, requiring only that the donation be approved by the local school council and administration, said Jose Alvarez, director of local school council relations.
And equity? "It's really tough," Alvarez said.
Take full-day kindergarten, for example. CPS does not budget for it at all schools. Buildings that serve low-income students receive more federal and state funding, which some principals tap to upgrade the half-day kindergarten to full-day. Schools in more affluent neighborhoods, meanwhile, must raise the money themselves or go without.
With carwashes, lemonade stands and hours of telephone calls, parents at Blaine Elementary School on the North Side raised $140,000 last spring to pay the extra costs of full-day kindergarten, ensuring that all kids at the school benefit whether or not their family contributed. It marked the sixth consecutive year that parents paid for the additional teachers.
About 60 percent of the money came from kindergarten parents, said Dita Merkel and Ruth Lyons, who led the campaign. Merkel pitched the donation as an investment in the local community.
"I shop in my neighborhood, I donate to my school and I work toward improving the neighborhood. As parents that live here and want to continue to live in the city, this is what we do," said Merkel, treasurer with the Friends of Blaine organization. "Otherwise we have choices" — such as paying for private school tuition or moving to the suburbs.
Barrington School District 220 grappled with questions of equitable giving two years ago when one elementary school's PTO raised enough money to outfit every class with cutting-edge technology.
North Barrington Elementary School's parents raised $115,000 over two years to buy the system that links a computer to a mounted monitor and overhead digital projector often found in college lecture halls. PTO President Mary Magro said parents contributed because they could see the impact of the technology every time they walked into the school.
"We had two people who donated money with the instruction — and we allowed them to do this — that 'I'm giving you this money because I want my son's teacher to have one,'" Magro said.
Other school PTOs launched their own fundraising to match the technology effort. But it seemed clear that one sister school, where eight of every 10 students were low-income, might not be able to raise the sum as quickly.
Organizers of the North Barrington campaign donated two sets of the technology to Sunny Hill Elementary School in Carpentersville. Other district schools followed with offers to help.
Unwritten and informal, the tradition continues today.
"This pushed a lot of levers to make sure everybody is on the same page," said district spokesman Jeffrey Arnett.
Some school districts distinguish between large and small gifts. Evanston-Skokie School District 65 requires that all donations, regardless of size, go before the school board for approval.
In Oak Park, district officials currently draw the line at $5,000. Contributions larger than that go directly to the school board, according to the policy approved two years ago. Smaller donations may be vetted by the board if they affect classroom instruction, require upkeep or involve student safety.
After last month's debate, the school board agreed to take a second look at the gift-giving rules with an eye toward equity. The issue is expected to come before the board later this spring.
Many residents argued that in a school system as diverse as Oak Park, where schools vary in size and have low-income populations of 3 to 26 percent, some PTOs have an easier time than others raising money.
Parents at Irving Elementary School — one of the district's smallest schools, where a quarter of students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, according to state records — urged the school board to reconsider. A petition signed by more than 200 parents and teachers read: "Without some oversight and change in policy, the educational opportunities and access to technology that students have will vary widely."
"If they want us to come up with it, I don't know that we'll have the cash," said Thomas Purrenhage, co-president of the Irving PTO.
With delegates from every school, the PTO Council in April agreed to research districtwide fundraising and grants for technology at all schools, co-President Carollina Songsaid.
School board President Peter Traczyk said he expects the reworked policy may tighten the controls on giving and more clearly address technology.
"If we're going to move down the road of introducing more technology into the classroom, we're kind of getting closer to: 'Isn't that like hiring staff?'" Traczyk said. "That's the line Oak Parkers are uncomfortable crossing, and I guess I would agree with them."
Chicago-area schools turn to parents for help raising money
Guidelines adopted to guard against disparity in classroom
By Tara Malone, Tribune reporter
Hundreds of Oak Park parents cried foul last month when a school board member suggested that parent-teacher organizations might help raise money to improve technology in District 97 elementary schools.
The firestorm wasn't about fundraising so much as it was about fairness: the fear that some schools could collect more than others, widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in a district that prizes its diversity.
"If you're saying, 'We can do better shrubbery outside the school because we raise more money,' well, that's nice. But technology cuts to the bone," said Oak Park parent Libbey Paul, a vice president of the district's PTO Council. "You start having disparity in the classroom."
As school districts battle deficits that are forcing teacher layoffs and reduced programs, volunteers who more typically host back-to-school play dates and assemblies are increasingly collecting money to keep art in the curriculum and new books in the library.
"The thing with private contributions is, it always used to be the icing on the cake. Now we're talking about it being the cake itself," said Mike Griffith, a senior policy analyst with the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.
This creates a dilemma for public school officials. If they turn down the money, kids might go without. If they accept it, they risk inequities. And if they require that donations be equally distributed, parents might be less willing to give.
Now, several area districts are refining their gift-giving policies to make clear for parents and booster clubs what is allowed and what's not.
Private donations represent less than 1 percent of all school funding nationwide. They matter, though, because such contributions often pay for after-school programs and academic extras that cash-strapped schools cannot afford.
States vary in how they manage it. New Mexico, for instance, counts parent support and private donations as local revenue. The more money that schools receive locally, the less help they get from the state, according to New Mexico's system of funding education.
Utah and Michigan do not address private contributions in their school funding formulas. Both states, though, redistribute tax revenues across the state to guard against financial imbalances, essentially taking money from well-off districts and spreading it to those with more need.
Illinois takes a hands-off approach, leaving local schools to draw the line themselves.
Elgin-based School District U-46 this year drafted guidelines for giving when community members asked how they might help ease the brunt of a $44 million deficit. The state's second-largest school district drew the line at hiring personnel because of equity concerns.
"No, you can't fund a teacher, thank you. But let's talk about what might be appropriate" said Karen Fox, chief of family and community engagement.
Chicago Public Schools sets few limits on what parents can contribute, requiring only that the donation be approved by the local school council and administration, said Jose Alvarez, director of local school council relations.
And equity? "It's really tough," Alvarez said.
Take full-day kindergarten, for example. CPS does not budget for it at all schools. Buildings that serve low-income students receive more federal and state funding, which some principals tap to upgrade the half-day kindergarten to full-day. Schools in more affluent neighborhoods, meanwhile, must raise the money themselves or go without.
With carwashes, lemonade stands and hours of telephone calls, parents at Blaine Elementary School on the North Side raised $140,000 last spring to pay the extra costs of full-day kindergarten, ensuring that all kids at the school benefit whether or not their family contributed. It marked the sixth consecutive year that parents paid for the additional teachers.
About 60 percent of the money came from kindergarten parents, said Dita Merkel and Ruth Lyons, who led the campaign. Merkel pitched the donation as an investment in the local community.
"I shop in my neighborhood, I donate to my school and I work toward improving the neighborhood. As parents that live here and want to continue to live in the city, this is what we do," said Merkel, treasurer with the Friends of Blaine organization. "Otherwise we have choices" — such as paying for private school tuition or moving to the suburbs.
Barrington School District 220 grappled with questions of equitable giving two years ago when one elementary school's PTO raised enough money to outfit every class with cutting-edge technology.
North Barrington Elementary School's parents raised $115,000 over two years to buy the system that links a computer to a mounted monitor and overhead digital projector often found in college lecture halls. PTO President Mary Magro said parents contributed because they could see the impact of the technology every time they walked into the school.
"We had two people who donated money with the instruction — and we allowed them to do this — that 'I'm giving you this money because I want my son's teacher to have one,'" Magro said.
Other school PTOs launched their own fundraising to match the technology effort. But it seemed clear that one sister school, where eight of every 10 students were low-income, might not be able to raise the sum as quickly.
Organizers of the North Barrington campaign donated two sets of the technology to Sunny Hill Elementary School in Carpentersville. Other district schools followed with offers to help.
Unwritten and informal, the tradition continues today.
"This pushed a lot of levers to make sure everybody is on the same page," said district spokesman Jeffrey Arnett.
Some school districts distinguish between large and small gifts. Evanston-Skokie School District 65 requires that all donations, regardless of size, go before the school board for approval.
In Oak Park, district officials currently draw the line at $5,000. Contributions larger than that go directly to the school board, according to the policy approved two years ago. Smaller donations may be vetted by the board if they affect classroom instruction, require upkeep or involve student safety.
After last month's debate, the school board agreed to take a second look at the gift-giving rules with an eye toward equity. The issue is expected to come before the board later this spring.
Many residents argued that in a school system as diverse as Oak Park, where schools vary in size and have low-income populations of 3 to 26 percent, some PTOs have an easier time than others raising money.
Parents at Irving Elementary School — one of the district's smallest schools, where a quarter of students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch, according to state records — urged the school board to reconsider. A petition signed by more than 200 parents and teachers read: "Without some oversight and change in policy, the educational opportunities and access to technology that students have will vary widely."
"If they want us to come up with it, I don't know that we'll have the cash," said Thomas Purrenhage, co-president of the Irving PTO.
With delegates from every school, the PTO Council in April agreed to research districtwide fundraising and grants for technology at all schools, co-President Carollina Songsaid.
School board President Peter Traczyk said he expects the reworked policy may tighten the controls on giving and more clearly address technology.
"If we're going to move down the road of introducing more technology into the classroom, we're kind of getting closer to: 'Isn't that like hiring staff?'" Traczyk said. "That's the line Oak Parkers are uncomfortable crossing, and I guess I would agree with them."