Publication Date: Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Guest Opinion:
When school fundraising isn't quite enough ...

by Al Russell

Ever since my oldest son entered kindergarten in 1974, I have volunteered for Palo Alto schools. My first PTA position was president, nearly 30 years ago -- an unusual and great way to begin.

Later I served as school site council chairperson at two schools, and as president (twice), vice president, and treasurer of the Palo Alto High Music Boosters. In addition, I have served on and chaired many district-level school committees, including site disposition/re-use committees and two years leading the district's Long Range Planning Committee.

I have spent the last eight years on the district's Planning Review Committee for the Building For Excellence Program, the $200 million renovation and modernization program.

Like so many other Palo Alto parents, I have contributed my time and energy to schools because of my commitment to maintain the excellence of our educational program.

And because of my long involvement with Palo Alto's schools, I have witnessed first-hand the condition of our schools and the education they offer children. I have seen what most Palo Altans realize: Inadequacy of funding plays a crucial role in defining how our schools function.

At the time my son entered school, a big year for PTA fundraising meant raising $1,000 over and above the membership dues. Several years later, my son's school, El Carmelo, held the first auction in our district and doubled the PTA's income for the year.

We were very happy with the results. But, as economics changed, state allocations dwindled and the impact of 1978's Proposition 13 became apparent (local control was lost to Sacramento), funding needs at our schools increased. Oue PTAs increasingly felt the need to meet the substantial and growing gap in educational funding.

To help close this gap, in 1987 I helped found the Palo Alto Foundation for Education (PAFE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting innovation and excellence in Palo Alto classrooms. In my two terms as PAFE president, I had the opportunity to administer its successful teacher-grant program -- grant requests consistently highlighted the quality and excellence of our teaching staff.

As a PAFE co-founder, I have been proud of our work to foster innovation in Palo Alto classrooms. Over the years, we have grown the grant program from under $10,000 to more than $100,000 per year.

But classroom grants are only part of the school-funding needs in Palo Alto. Three years ago, the school board, trying to provide a more egalitarian basis for fundraising, adopted a K-12 staffing rule that specified that school-based PTA's could no longer provide funds directly to their schools to pay for staffing.

Although PAFE was asked to handle this larger-scale centralized fundraising, we could not. Our funding goals had always been project-based (including the $1,000,000 campaign to outfit and equip the 20 new high school science labs), and our contacts with the (then) 16 Palo Alto schools were limited.

The All Schools Fund (ASF) then sprang into existence to raise funds centrally to pay for staffing needs at the schools approach. In time, both PAFE and ASF came to realize that two central fundraising organizations for schools confused donors, and that combining the energies of the specific-school approach with the longer-term, project-focused experience of PAFE could be the best way to raise funds for Palo Alto schools.

ASF and PAFE merged during this 2004-5 school year to create the new nonprofit Palo Alto Partners in Education -- which has already raised more than $1.8 million to support schools this year.

Yet as exciting as this merger is, Partners in Education's vital private fundraising leaves an important piece of the funding puzzle untouched.

The deplorable state of school finance in California has given rise to school foundations throughout California. Though they contribute to some important parts of student education, these foundations do not and cannot replace the reliable revenues offered by parcel taxes. Parcel taxes offer school districts the security to plan ahead to retain key staff and programs. The stability they provide is particularly critical in basic aid districts such as Palo Alto, where available revenues cannot be assured until after the fiscal year has ended.

So, as proud as I am of the accomplishments of PAFE, ASF and now Partners in Education, I feel even more strongly that Palo Alto voters must approve the upcoming parcel tax. The revenues it will generate are critical for continuing the outstanding education that my children enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s.

My oldest grandchild has just started school at Ohlone, and I want his experience at school to be as wonderful as his father's. My long-term experience with Palo Alto schools, and my pride in our school district, lead me to urgently recommend that everyone cast a vote for Measure A June 7.

Al Russell is a longtime Palo Alto resident who continues to be actively involved in school fundraising and financial issues.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2005/2005_06_01.guest01gift1.shtml