Would You Contribute to More Equity in Seattle Schools?
Charlie asked this question elsewhere:
I'll first say this - bless each and every parent/grandparent/family member/community member who helps to raise money for any school. You encourage the belief in public education (and I believe students remember this later on in life) and you strengthen public education with your support.
But yes, there are schools in communities who have children whose parents have more stable lives and are able to support their learning both before they start their K-12 education and after they start their K-12 education. And, they have both the time and wherewithal to fundraise to support their child's school. I will note that in some instances, the money raised for one school means more funds for another.
If parents at one school are paying for maintenance of their building or supplies for their building, that's money the district doesn't have to spend. Theoretically, that's how it should work but I don't know if that's always so.
And, at least at this blog and at the Soup for Teachers Facebook page, there are parents and community members who want to try to make things more equitable for all schools. Lend a helping hand if only on the theory that a rising tide lifts all boats. (But many people do it for just for the good of children.)
Bellevue Public Schools enjoys the support of the Bellevue Schools Foundation.
I would like a foundation that is devoted solely to raising up schools, one by one, with as little direction as possible from business and more direct interaction with teachers, principals and students rather than senior management of JSCEE. (Meaning, schools apply for grants on their own without the district's input which they do already.)
I'm wondering if people would support such a foundation.
I wonder how things would be different if there were an education fundraising group in Seattle that was less political and less in the pocket of the Chamber of Commerce than the Alliance for Education.This is a question that comes up with some frequency around PTA fundraising which is inequitable in Seattle Schools.
Would people contribute to it generously? What sort of grants could it make (or should it make)?
I'll first say this - bless each and every parent/grandparent/family member/community member who helps to raise money for any school. You encourage the belief in public education (and I believe students remember this later on in life) and you strengthen public education with your support.
But yes, there are schools in communities who have children whose parents have more stable lives and are able to support their learning both before they start their K-12 education and after they start their K-12 education. And, they have both the time and wherewithal to fundraise to support their child's school. I will note that in some instances, the money raised for one school means more funds for another.
If parents at one school are paying for maintenance of their building or supplies for their building, that's money the district doesn't have to spend. Theoretically, that's how it should work but I don't know if that's always so.
And, at least at this blog and at the Soup for Teachers Facebook page, there are parents and community members who want to try to make things more equitable for all schools. Lend a helping hand if only on the theory that a rising tide lifts all boats. (But many people do it for just for the good of children.)
Bellevue Public Schools enjoys the support of the Bellevue Schools Foundation.
We raise funds to improve student learning through district wide academic initiatives, curriculum material, training opportunities for teachers, and an array of programs that meet students' special needs. Our donors help bridge the gap between the basic funding provided by the State of Washington and what Bellevue students need to truly excel.This sounds a lot like what the Operations Levy here in Seattle does. They provide assistance mostly for district-wide initiatives (counting on PTAs to shore up individual schools which in Bellevue may be roughly equal but certainly isn't here in Seattle.)
I would like a foundation that is devoted solely to raising up schools, one by one, with as little direction as possible from business and more direct interaction with teachers, principals and students rather than senior management of JSCEE. (Meaning, schools apply for grants on their own without the district's input which they do already.)
I'm wondering if people would support such a foundation.
Comments
The PTA at my neighborhood school is a tragic sight. It's a constant string of relatively low income families trying to sell things to other families who don't have enough money to buy their own essentials (like winter coats and new shoes for growing feet). There are no matching funds because the families don't work for the kinds of companies that provide those things. There's no auction because no one can afford babysitters to attend, let alone buy anything once they get there. It's heartbreaking
I would love to see something operating on a bigger scale, district wide. Some organization that made people feel good about giving. Since apparently our society has turned its back on the idea of taxes paying for education for the common good. Sigh.
Half Full
Count me in.
Mad Dad
Penny Pincher
PP, I can't support your entire premise but Charlie has advocated, for a long time, for the district to outsource the running of Facilities and I agree.
To note, I would like a foundation that has nothing to do with JSCEE.
Related, I'd love to see a lobbying organization for increasing state funding for public education. Raising taxes is hard, but it's the only way to get substantial funds, and the only way to improve education for all children in Washington state.
http://paramountduty.org
Neparent
we stopped outright supporting our schools after giving thousands of dollars to them. sorry you pay for what you get is unfortunately is the corollary of you get what you pay for. look at the title one games the district has played with hcc mixed with high frl schools which really only lowers the t1 funding from the feds.
if any of these new reform directors lets the district take support off the frontline who are needed instead of cutting the specialized orca card facilitators on the district level or ed, who no one can say what they do really, then i will fight for their removal too.
no caps
Donors Choose is more a teacher-driven kind of thing. It can be hit or miss, depending on teacher/principal savvy/time.
my last child leaves SPS for private school next year. We've always given to PTA, and with corporate matching, it ends up being a nice gift. I want to continue giving something to the public system, because my children had almost universally great teachers and I really believe in public education. I don't want to just flee and ignore the system. (We're leaving for class size and stability, having one kid who's been in 4 buildings in 6 years, the other in 3 buildings -- and zero clarity on MS or HS placement year to year looking ahead, and I just couldn't do it anymore. Just could not.)
So what are the thoughts about either giving to a school where my kid/s were happy (that already has fairly successful PTA, and that uses the money to enrich a lot of kids, uses it well - but for expansion of things that already exist there, etc) vs. giving to a high FRL school that we have no ties to, never went to, but which has arguably greater need b/c it has less PTA funding, vs the third route - a school in the middle with mid-range FRL, so they don't get extra mitigation money, and yet don't raise much PTA money. I'm kind of leaning toward the last thing. It feels like the bang for the buck is really there, whereas the first feels not that necessary and the second feels like I can't even begin to help.
I'm curious about thoughts on which school to donate to - I wouldn't stay involved with the schools, I just want to continue to donate something to public education beyond my tax dollars -- because no one will pass a freaking income tax! (I want to pay more taxes, fair ones like an income tax, but that would take more backbone than Olympia can even find at the Burke Museum, I guess).
-- math counts
Neparent
NE parent, at this point, I don't think that's worth it.
Albert S.
I would argue that we need the same ban - or that at the very least, that the Board should hold that accepting such donations is inconsistent with Board Policy 6114 on Gifts, Grants, Donations & Fundraising Proceeds (http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/Policies/Series%206000/6114.pdf).
Many of the districts that do have such bans have created education foundations that receives donations that can then be used district-wide for staffing purposes. No, this is not the equivalent of fully funding schools via equitable taxation, but at least it is less inequitable than the system we currently have here in Seattle, whereby the discretionary funding that is actually equitably distributed by SPS via the WSS is then massively outmatched by PTA funding at low-poverty schools, often by an order of magnitude.
I's so tired of SPS taking funds for one thing (maintenance, looking at you!) and using it for a pet project or the latest trend/study. This would just give them more money to play with instead of doing what they're supposed to be doing....educating our children.
I'm so sick of SPS.
Can someone just be an ADULT at JSCEE and do the right thing????
Mag Mom
And, Melissa, I more meant that Donors Choose might supplement the efforts of the organization you are thinking about. It's hit or miss, as you said, but there is a lot of funding there, and perhaps complementary to what you are thinking. In any case, I'd love to see an organization along the lines of what you are suggesting.
Philanthropy Advisor
Philanthropy Advisor, that's a longer story. In short, I believe the Alliance started during the reign of Stanford for the best of purposes. But the business types chafed at the district making decisions/choices for the money. The Alliance slowly morphed into a Daddy Warbucks org that wanted, more and more, to have say over what happened to the district, beyond the money they gave. They also started wanting to make a profit from managing PTA monies and I think that was not something that sat well with others.
I think the Bellevue and Mercer Island Foundations do far less to try to insert themselves in their districts.
Philanthropy Advisor
Life is unequal and sometimes unfair, you want to punish my student in some misguided sense of equity, justice or guilt, or belive that my student should be brought down because another students parents don't come from the same means tHan I do.
reader
I would be interested in this solution. I think something depends on the implementation, but, assuming the foundation works reasonably I would like the opportunity to streamline my contributions.
1)there is no formal relationship,
2) the Alliance continues managing PTA funds for PTAs that sign up for that (and they make money off that which a bit of a sore point to the district),
3)they give out a few student scholarships,
4)the so-called Seattle Teacher Residency program that got started with SEA, SPS, UW Ed and the Alliance is slowly falling apart because no on wants to pay for it (but now SPS is paying thru the nose),
5)they pay for the district to be in the Urban Schools Human Capital Academy and
5) some other smaller investments.
While I applaud any group that wants to help Seattle Schools, I'm not sure this is "amazing work" and they have doubled down on their OWN agenda. Not the district's.
The people on the Board are mostly business types which is fine for the kind of foundation they want to be. I don't think it truly works for the district needs.
I don't trust the Alliance and I have no idea what real relationships still remain with them. I note that the last blog entry they have is September 2016.
From the website:
"Can the Alliance make a donation to my school or organization?
No, the Alliance does not make donations or grants directly to schools."
What the Alliance does is the opposite of what I am suggesting. These would be grants made directly to schools.
I believe that really only a small number of people advocate these kinds of stupid ideas. Unfortunately it is a very loud and deeply embedded group in SPS.
I didn't say anything about
1) having to give money to any school you don't want to
or 2) not being able to give money to your own school if you don't share it.
I mean, right now you could give to any school via their PTA or Donors Choose. But, if there was pooled money, then a school could get a grant to get something big done for students.
As I recall, A4E was using SPS's logo for fundraising purposes.
I'm glad they have been
Absolutely not. The problem with the whole "equity" discussion is that we don't have a common definition of what "equity" is. We all seem to have our own internalized definition, but no common understanding. SPS administration seems to use the term "equity" to justify whatever it wants to do. This is a recipe for continued confusion and frustration. Our goals, priorities and plans need to be clearly spelled out in well understood terms.
Fed up with "Equity"
"I would support it if I could direct my contribution to a particular project from a pre-vetted list."
Hmmm, why don't we do that with our donations at our own school?
Do we only micro-manage poor people?
Please explain.
M. Faraday
How does that work?
Angela