LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A recent editorial in the Daily Pilot (“Generosity should extend

districtwide,” April 8) highlighted the efforts of the Newport Harbor

Educational Foundation to raise supplemental funds for Newport Harbor

High School. As the current president of the Foundation, I’m very proud

of the hard work performed by Foundation members. And as president, I

feel obliged to respond to the editorial. It is important to correct the

assumptions made by the editorial so the Foundation can continue to

receive the outstanding community support we currently enjoy.

Since 1996, the Foundation has consistently provided critical funds to

support several educational programs at Harbor High. This financial

assistance allows Principal Michael Vossen and his staff to provide the

kind of educational experience that has brought Harbor High national

recognition as a Blue Ribbon School. This is good news. And those of us

associated with Harbor High and the Foundation are proud of the school

and the local generous support highlighted in the original article in the

Daily Pilot.

Newport Harbor High School enjoys tremendous diversity, and the work

of the Foundation benefits all students at the school. The current

population of Harbor High is 2,115 students, by far the largest high

school in Newport-Mesa. Of that total, 53% reside in Costa Mesa. The

school is a microcosm of our community and of our society, and that is

part of what makes it special.

Apparently though, the Daily Pilot reads elitism into our fund-raising

efforts, playing on the concept of a wealthy community providing only for

its own and ignoring its neighbor.

The Daily Pilot acknowledges the positive efforts of the Foundation,

but laments the Foundation’s approach in raising funds that benefit only

one high school. The Daily Pilot proposes instead that the Foundation

“spread the wealth” and raise money for all the district’s high schools

(after taking “a little off the top” for Harbor High). The Daily Pilot

argues, “donors can do their part in providing the opportunity for

schools to become that much closer to equality, at least fiscally. Might

Newport Harbor still have a larger foundation budget than Estancia High

School? Unfortunately, yes. Might Estancia be better off than it was

before? Yes, and all for the better.”

Unfortunately, the editorial missed some very basic facts about

current funding in our own district. Those errors then became the basis

of the entire editorial. The Daily Pilot assumed Newport Harbor High

School and Estancia High School currently receive equal government

funding on a per-pupil basis, or maybe even that Harbor High is ahead in

funding support. Wrong. Here are the funding facts -- facts that have led

the Harbor High community to face up to the need to tap community

resources to make up a funding shortfall:

According to the district’s 2000-2001 all funds final budget, on a

per-student basis, a student at Harbor High was budgeted $2,945 from the

general fund for the current school year; a student at Estancia High was

budgeted $3,615 -- a difference of $670 per student. Add in the

categorical programs, and the Harbor High student received $3,507, while

the Estancia High student received $4,346 -- the difference grows to $839

per student.

Subtract out the one-time digital high school grant received this year

by Harbor High (and received in past years by Estancia High) and the

difference rises to about $1,000 more per student at Estancia High than

at Harbor High.

Let me be clear: the Foundation is not here today to challenge that

disparity, but we make no apologies for supporting academic enrichment at

our children’s school. Pride in local schools arises out of local

support. I can guarantee that to propose a compulsory sharing of

Foundation proceeds among all high schools would result in far fewer

funds being raised for any school. Such a proposal sounds like a tax to

me, not philanthropy. An effort to raise funds based on such a proposal

would have a negligible result in any community.Further, the Daily Pilot

misses a key educational trend. The role of the public school foundation

has grown in recent years in California as parents and community members

seek to improve the educational experience for all children. Newport

Harbor Educational Foundation is far from unique. There are, in fact,

many such foundations in existence throughout our school district, and in

fact many more elsewhere in California. All of them share the goal of

enhancing the educational experience for school children, given that

funding for public education in California has dropped to the point where

recently the state ranked 40th in per-pupil support in the U.S.

So what does the Newport Harbor Educational Foundation mean to Harbor

High? The roughly $400,000 raised by the Foundation this year will mean

about $190 per student -- an amount that makes a meaningful contribution

to each student’s educational experience at Harbor High. Good news

indeed.

The purpose of sharing the figures in this letter is to inform the

editorial staff of the Daily Pilot about these rather significant

financial facts. We hope that any future articles and editorials will be

based on the correct financial outlook faced by Harbor High each year. We

challenge the Daily Pilot to modify its stance, and to applaud and

advance the fund-raising efforts of our Foundation, as well as the other

foundations in existence in our district. All of them perform a local

service whose need and purpose will surely grow.

We will continue to seek financial support where we can find it. If

that support comes disproportionately from Newport Beach -- and benefits

all students attending Harbor High regardless of where they live -- so be

it. The Foundation’s goal is to enhance the educational experience for

all students at Harbor High. We’re proud of our record, and we invite

your support. Please contact our office at Newport Harbor High School if

you’d like to learn more about our Foundation, or if you’d like to help.

MARK SCHULTHEIS

Newport Beach

President, Newport Harbor Educational Foundation