BY DANA DiFILIPPO and ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
He's a world-renowned maestro who conducts the Cincinnati Pops. And now Erich Kunzel has adopted the title of education advocate and fund-raiser as he leads an effort to build a $220 million arts and education campus for the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-the-Rhine.
As state support shrinks and demand grows on public schools' money, private sources such as Mr. Kunzel are picking up bigger portions of public education's price tag. That private support is becoming increasingly important as residential flight to suburban areas leaves inner-city schools with shrinking resources.
Many educators applaud private efforts to solicit money for public schools. But others say it widens the gap between rich and poor schools, because rich schools have more generous alumni and wealthier neighbors while poor schools see little private money. "Children's futures shouldn't be determined by how much money they're lucky enough to come into," said Neil Aquino, an unsuccessful candidate for the Cincinnati Board of Education, who this year donated $100 of his leftover campaign funds to struggling Rothenberg School in Over-the-Rhine.
Critics also question the priorities of some privately funded public school projects; for example, a plan for a new arts - sciences wing at Cincinnati's Walnut Hills High School calls for a sculpture garden.
But school administrators say they don't have enough money in their budgets to support the programs and projects bolstered by school foundations and private donations.
"Everybody wants a Cadillac for the kids, but there really is no way to provide that Cadillac with the way the funding structure is in Ohio," said Jeffrey Brokamp, principal of the School of Creative and Performing Arts, which he says gets at least $700,000 a year in private support.
The private-funds movement started in California, where state Supreme Court rulings led to the redirection of property tax revenue and the creation of Proposition 13 in 1978.
Proposition 13 capped local property taxes and limited the state's ability to raise taxes in an effort to bring equity to school funding.
The changes tore apart many school budgets by cutting significant amounts of state aid, dropping California's ranking in per-pupil spending from fifth-highest in the nation in the 1960s to 42nd-highest in 1992-93.
To compensate for the missing money, California school boards and parents created foundations to solicit donations from community groups and private companies.
Today, more than 3,000 foundations nationwide raise money for public schools, up from 15 in 1982, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The Michigan-based Educational Foundation Consultants estimates that nearly 18 percent of U.S. schools benefit from money raised by foundations.
Those foundations raise small amounts, generally less than 0.5 percent of a school's budget. But the money can make a big difference. At Withrow High School, parents and alumni raised $250,000 to restore the footbridge and clock tower in front of the Hyde Park school.
In Boone County Schools, a foundation raised $80,000 to buy more than 100 computers. Kenton County students have received more than $28,300 in scholarships from the Kenton County Educational Foundation.
In the Mariemont City School District, a foundation started 2 1/2 years ago already has spent $80,000 for a stadium scoreboard, $35,000 for a stadium playing surface and backed three scholarships. "This is money over and above what the levies can provide," said Dave Deeter of Terrace Park, Mariemont School Foundation president. "We work in concert with (the school board). They come to us and say, "We'd like to do this. Can you help us raise the money?' " In Ohio, the need for private fund-raisers has skyrocketed as uncertainty about state funding looms.
The Ohio Supreme Court last year declared the state's school funding system unconstitutional. The De- Rolph vs. Ohio ruling ordered fundamental changes in the way money is raised, borrowed and spent for schools -- saying that the primary burden for education should be on the state's taxpayers, not local property owners. State lawmakers responded by drafting a plan to raise the state sales tax to pay for public education, but voters defeated it in May. Legislators haven't come up with another plan.
"There is a complete lack of capital funding for public schools in this state," Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney said. "Like every other unit of government in Ohio, public schools must have a reasonable and consistent revenue stream for capital improvements.
"It's an incredibly dysfunctional situation that has gone on for decades. The DeRolph suit is the least the state lawmakers should face; they should be indicted for dereliction of duty." Some schools have foundations supported primarily by parents and alumni. Others solicit corporate support. Many send students to the streets to hawk candy or organize car washes.
There are golf outings, dinners with the governor, 5K runs, limited-edition sales of art prints, adopt-a-chair theater renovations and gala events to bring in cash for children. Many schools have hired development directors and full-time fund-raisers.
But as the popularity of private fund-raisers goes beyond the bake sale, concerns increase about how that money is spent.
Mr. Aquino has repeatedly asked Cincinnati Public Schools leaders to adopt a policy to distribute donated funds fairly.
But Mr. Mooney said such a policy -- while ideal -- is unrealistic. School districts can't afford policies that would deter donations, he said.
"People have an allegiance to specific schools," agreed Debbie Heldman, executive director of the Walnut Hills Alumni Association, which is raising $12 million to build an arts - sciences wing. "If you regulate where their money goes, they might not give at all."
But some campaigns beg for intervention, Mr. Mooney added. "To spend more than $200 million on a facility to educate 1,000 kids, when the school board needs $400 million to repair all the district schools, is obscene," Mr. Mooney said, referring to the SCPA plan. "That much money needs to be put into the mix to support other capital projects."
But Bill Faulkner, a parent, retired Park Hills Elementary principal and founding member of the Kenton County Educational Foundation, said all community members should do whatever they can to help students succeed.
Mrs. Heldman said poor schools don't raise as much money as richer ones because they're not organized.
"All schools have the ability to raise money," she said. "They just need a game plan on how to get it. They need a blueprint."
But experts say using private money to support public education creates accountability problems.
Private campaigns aren't subject to the same auditing requirements public funds face. That leaves private fund-raisers wide open to abuses, said Loren Crisp, senior deputy auditor in Ohio Auditor Jim Petro's Cincinnati regional office.
Private campaigns also prompt questions about control.
"It raises the prospect of a private district within the public district," Mr. Aquino said.
Enquirer reporter Christine Wolff contributed.
