Foundation fever spreading

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT-MESA -- It used to be a school had to be full of rich,

business-minded parents in order to field a foundation.

But across Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, parents who may not be as rich

as Croesus, but who are nevertheless intent on improving their children’s

schools, are disproving this notion.

“We’re not a rich school,” said Pat Ary, who is president of the newly

created foundation at California Elementary School.

“But as long as you have talented, hard-driven people who believe in our

public schools, we’re going to be able to do the same things that

wealthier Newport Beach schools can do.”

Ary is not the only Costa Mesa parent who has decided that the lack of

wealthy parents at her school should not be a barrier to a flourishing

foundation.

In the last six months, parents at California Elementary School, Ensign

Intermediate School and Estancia High School have all formed foundations.

Parents at Killybrooke Elementary are in the beginning stages of planning

a foundation, said Killybrooke PTA President Joyce Christiansen.

Foundation fever first swept Newport-Mesa about five years ago, when

Newport Harbor High School formed one. Corona del Mar High School,

Mariners Elementary School and Newport Elementary School followed suit in

short order.

Foundations at those schools now raise hundreds of thousands of dollars

each year for everything from playground equipment to salaries for school

counselors to help Corona del Mar students get into college.

Because foundations are incorporated as private, tax-exempt

organizations, they can pay directly for educational extras -- such as

computers, technology aides, books -- that schools cannot afford.

A court decree in the 1970s, Serrano vs. Priest, ruled that all school

districts in the state had to spend within $200 per student of each

other. But money given to schools by private foundations is not included

in the calculations.

Many educational policy officials, including Bruce Fuller, a professor of

public policy at UC Berkeley, have charged that private foundations,

which across California can typically be found at wealthy schools, will

lead to a “Balkanization of society.”

Wealthy, influential parents accept low funding of public schools as long

as their children’s schools receive extra financial help, he argued.

But the foundation drive across Costa Mesa proves that money is not all

you need to start a foundation.

Ary said the foundation for California came about after parents decided

they wanted to buy new playground equipment for the school, which they

estimated will cost about $100,000.

Originally, Ary said, parents planned to raise the money through the PTA,

but to their dismay, discovered that the PTA placed limitations on how

much money parents could raise and how they could spend it.

“We saw what other schools were doing with foundations,” Ary noted.

And so they turned to a foundation. So far, they’ve raised a hardly

whopping $600.

Since last spring, the parents have organized a group, gained tax-exempt

status and filed with the Internal Revenue Service for nonprofit status.

Until IRS paperwork comes through, they aren’t allowed to approach local

businesses.

But they’ve made a start, said Ary, and a number of fund-raisers are

planned for this fall, including a tile-painting event, a dinner and

silent auction, and a family portrait night.

Parents hope to to start a drama program at the school by next fall.

“We’re going to let parents’ priorities be our guideline for what we

spend the money on,” said Ary.

“It’s a win-win,” she added. “There’s no downside to bringing money into

our school, and it’s really exciting for me to see people rallying around

for this cause because we haven’t really had anything like this at our

school.”

Principal Jane Holm, who was assistant principal at Lincoln Elementary

School last year, said she used to associate foundations with Newport

Beach schools and was delighted to find a foundation-organization drive

in effect upon her arrival at California.

“I’m very excited about it,” she said.

Across town at Estancia, parents -- dismayed by what they perceive to be

a negative stereotype at their school -- started a foundation last winter

to boost the school’s image and raise money.

At Ensign Middle School, which draws students from affluent Newport Beach

and the less-affluent West Side of Costa Mesa, parents started a

quasi-foundation called the Ensign Fund.

Because of complications while starting a new fund, as well as a desire

to work with the high school, Ensign has joined Newport Harbor’s

foundation.

Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers will hold a benefit concert for the

fund later this fall, and parents and school officials will use the money

to upgrade science labs and improve the school’s reading program. Parents

also want to start an outreach program for students who are not achieving

up to their potential.