Carl Cohn

Carl Cohn

The welcome passage of Proposition xxx by voters this week volition help avoid an immediate fiscal crunch in our schools. But it will non undo the damage of years of underinvestment in public education in the state.

Additional aid could come up from those who contributed to whatever number of federal, state or local campaigns during the just-ended electoral flavour.

While California and  the nation have recorded political contributions in the billions of dollars, schools still face enormous needs, equally EdSource'south "Schools Under Stress" report documented.

Information technology is truthful that a disproportionate share of funds spent on political campaigns have come from millionaires and billionaires.

Louis Freedberg

Louis Freedberg

Merely millions of pocket-size donors besides generously opened their pocketbooks every bit well.

And then hither'due south a modest proposal:

Contributors to political campaigns should consider donating matching amounts to schools and school districts of their choice.  Those newly elected (or re-elected) to public function, especially those who profess to believe in a gratis, high-quality public education for all children, should encourage their backers to exercise so.

Contributors would accept the satisfaction of making a lasting investment in America's hereafter – our children – in contrast to having their funds end up mainly in the pockets of high-paid political consultants and the banking concern accounts of broadcast and other media outlets.

There is already a mechanism for contributors to channel their funds to the schools of their choice by going through the nonprofit, tax exempt foundations that be in many schools and districts.

In California, there are an estimated 675 education foundations raising funds, typically for specific programs in their schools or district rather than for general support. In districts where no such foundation exists, the California Consortium of Teaching Foundations has offered to serve as an intermediary and channel funds to schools of a donor'due south choice.

While some local education foundations are able to raise millions of dollars for their schools, they are the exceptions. The vast majority of foundations raise less than vi figures annually – and ideally donors would contribute to schools and districts that are almost in need.

This would exist an entirely volunteer effort. The appeal would exist rooted solely in the belief that Americans who collectively have opened their pocketbooks for political campaigns would exist moved by a similar sense of civic responsibleness to do the same for schools.

Ideally, contributions would be made throughout the ballot flavor. Just it is not too tardily to do and so.

In 1978, before the passage of Proposition 13, California spent at or even slightly above the per-student average in the United States. Today its ranking has slipped to 47th.

In terms of bodily dollars, the numbers are equally alarming. A decade agone, California spent an average of just under $700 less than the average for the residue of the country. Today, that figure has widened to nearly $3,000.

Just imagine the impact on schools if contributors to political campaigns would make equal donations to programs to do good children in schools of their choice across the state.

What's more, this is an initiative that would not be limited to the super-rich. The millions of Americans who take fabricated smaller contributions to presidential candidates – or candidates for their local schoolhouse boards – could besides participate. At a fourth dimension when teachers increasingly must spend their own money for bones classroom supplies, every actress dollar going into the classroom would assist.

 Louis Freedberg is executive director of EdSource.  Carl Cohn, the immediate by president of EdSource and sometime school superintendent in Long Embankment and San Diego, is a member of the California Country Lath of Educational activity.  An before version of this commentary appeared on September 1 in the Sacramento Bee.

To go more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.