Could private donors save public schools?

When Frank Minton arrived at the University of Washington in 1980, the idea of fundraising for the school was new.

“One question was, ‘Why should I contribute to a state university?’” said Minton, who served as the school’s director of development. “Shouldn’t it be funded by taxes?”

Now the UW is one of the largest fundraising entities in the state, and just wrapped up a $2.5 billion fundraising campaign – early.

“I think community colleges and public schools are at the point we were at,” said Minton.

He was one of three panelists at a Jan. 29 talk about “Enhancing Great Education in a Time of Distress.” The event was sponsored by the citizen group Forward Shoreline.

Minton and panelist Tom Mesaros urged school districts and school foundations to get more aggressive about fundraising to fill the gaps left by state funding.

“I think the state should fund education,” said Mesaros, CEO of the Alford Group. “But there isn’t the money.”

Legacy gifts – money people grant when they die – could be a big source of revenue, they said.

“When planning (their will), many people think of their alma mater, but they don’t think of the public schools,” Minton said.

Minton recalled working with the non profit Northwest Harvest in Seattle. One day the president opened an envelope and it was a $4 million gift from someone who’d died and put the organization in their will.

But even among the living, this is still a reasonable time to ask for money, despite the economy, the panelists said. Donations to education are still rising, and major gifts have still been made.

Rudi Bertschi, the third panelist, is a senior policy analyst with the Office of the Superintedent of Public Instruction.

He stressed that Randy Dorn, the new superintendent of public instruction, would keep pushing for adequate state funding.

The system is broken, he said. Districts statewide, many of whom have been cutting for years, face even bigger cuts this year as the state seeks to close a budget hole and the economy worsens.

Recently, a task force of legislators presented bills to change the school funding system. The proposed new system could increase state funding by as much as 50 percent. It calls for a six-year phase in and recommends the changes happen one by one as money is available.

“Has money ever been available?” Mesaros said.

Some in the audience challenged the notion of using donations to fill the state budget gap.

“What happens when we create a gap in philanthropy, where the foundation in Seattle can put money into the system but the foundation in Yakima can’t?” asked a Northshore School District mother.

There’s already inequity in funding, she said.

In response, Bertschi recalled the story of working at Beacon Hill Elementary in South Seattle. Two-thirds of students qualified for free and reduced lunch, many were English Language Learners and the school faced big challenges.

“There was no PTA,” Bertschi said. “(Meanwhile) the PTA of an elementary in Issaquah was buying computers for every kid in the school.”

Other audience members stressed the need for volunteers in schools, as well as money, and panelists agreed.

Volunteers are needed in every area, from helping children with reading to building sets for the high school theater, they said.

“The best thing I did in education I didn’t get paid for,” Bertschi said. “I tutored a first grader. The magic with education is not what happens in Olympia. In addition to asking people to give their money, ask them to give their time.”