Are some public school programs in the Bay sustained solely by parent contributions?

[batransplant]

Here is my 2 cents on the public school foundations. If you are living in a bay area neighborhood where the schools are ranked top 10% in the state with the best scores, top SAT, 99% going onto college etc., chances are that neighborhood where you bought a house cost you a minimum of 800k and up to well over 1M...especially if you bought in the past 5 years or so. You also probably paid a minimum of 250-300k more to live there than a comparable house in an average school district.

I would assume if you can afford to pay that premium for a house to send your kid to a particular public school, you should probably be able to donate $500-1k to the school each year while your child is attending, pay a minimal parcel tax, whatever candy bar purchase, bake sale, silent auction attendance or whatever you are required to do to contribute to your child's education. My guess is these communities are small, very tight knit, and everyone probably knows what everyone else does for a living (teacher vs. CEO) who rents vs. owns etc, so contributions are probably adjusted to take these things into consideration. Additionally, you can see where the money goes because they publish it online and the parents organizations are pretty strong and generally decide how that money is spent.

If you sincerely have real issues with the foundation support, there are plenty of other bay area schools which do not require the level of parental commitment the top schools require. If your kid is smart and you stay on top of his education, Im sure he or she will do well regardless of what the test scores and rankings are at his school. The cream always rises to the top.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by batransplant

Here is my 2 cents on the public school foundations. If you are living in a bay area neighborhood where the schools are ranked top 10% in the state with the best scores, top SAT, 99% going onto college etc., chances are that neighborhood where you bought a house cost you a minimum of 800k and up to well over 1M...especially if you bought in the past 5 years or so. You also probably paid a minimum of 250-300k more to live there than a comparable house in an average school district.

I would assume if you can afford to pay that premium for a house to send your kid to a particular public school, you should probably be able to donate $500-1k to the school each year while your child is attending, pay a minimal parcel tax, whatever candy bar purchase, bake sale, silent auction attendance or whatever you are required to do to contribute to your child's education. My guess is these communities are small, very tight knit, and everyone probably knows what everyone else does for a living (teacher vs. CEO) who rents vs. owns etc, so contributions are probably adjusted to take these things into consideration. Additionally, you can see where the money goes because they publish it online and the parents organizations are pretty strong and generally decide how that money is spent.

If you sincerely have real issues with the foundation support, there are plenty of other bay area schools which do not require the level of parental commitment the top schools require. If your kid is smart and you stay on top of his education, Im sure he or she will do well regardless of what the test scores and rankings are at his school. The cream always rises to the top.

I never said I had any issues with it. It is just new to me, that is all. Although I do think asking parents for contributions indicates a real budget problem.

Like I said before: I am just trying to understand all the hidden fees with raising a child here in the BayArea since I am a new parent.

So I have found out:
1) Schools are soliciting parents for contributions.
2) These are on top of already being taxed very high.
3) Other states don't do this (I went to school in NY and FL, never heard of it).
4) There are lists posted of contributors, but not the non-contributors.

Thanks for all the posts, again no need to think I am attacking or anything.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by Ceece

I wouldn't worry about anyone going over lists to see who ISN'T on them and retaliating in some way. Nobody is singled out for not having money, I don't know where people get these things. Maybe if there is a specific fee for some extra items the kid signed up for there could be a list of "people who still need to bring in their money" or something? Like school tshirts, yearbooks, or field trip costs... That's a whole different ball game however.

I've always been asked for donations to the classroom from ever teacher since my eldest started kindergarten 18 years ago. Always we have to buy our own supplies as well and a list comes home every year explaining exactly what they will need. The money donations are most often optional but in some classes, especially the upper grades and high school, they are required for specific things. These are usually electives that have extra costs associated with them. It's nothing new. And in ALL CASES exceptions are made for those who honestly can't afford it and kept confidential.

I got it from a lady at San Mateo Central Park lol, she was upset because they are losing their house and started unleashing her problems upon my wife and I. She specifically told me that the school her kids attend are considering posting a "Non-Contributor" list up. So she told the faculty that if they do this, they will never see another dime from her.

Having attended public schools in NY and FL, I have never heard of a Public School asking parents for money directly. So it is new to me! Again I am not talking about supplies or fees associated with the classes. I am talking about a monetary contribution of $900 which will probably go up by the time my 2 year old heads to school.

Thanks.

[twins4lynn]

Originally Posted by batransplant

Here is my 2 cents on the public school foundations. If you are living in a bay area neighborhood where the schools are ranked top 10% in the state with the best scores, top SAT, 99% going onto college etc., chances are that neighborhood where you bought a house cost you a minimum of 800k and up to well over 1M...especially if you bought in the past 5 years or so. You also probably paid a minimum of 250-300k more to live there than a comparable house in an average school district.

I would assume if you can afford to pay that premium for a house to send your kid to a particular public school, you should probably be able to donate $500-1k to the school each year while your child is attending, pay a minimal parcel tax, whatever candy bar purchase, bake sale, silent auction attendance or whatever you are required to do to contribute to your child's education. My guess is these communities are small, very tight knit, and everyone probably knows what everyone else does for a living (teacher vs. CEO) who rents vs. owns etc, so contributions are probably adjusted to take these things into consideration. Additionally, you can see where the money goes because they publish it online and the parents organizations are pretty strong and generally decide how that money is spent.

If you sincerely have real issues with the foundation support, there are plenty of other bay area schools which do not require the level of parental commitment the top schools require. If your kid is smart and you stay on top of his education, Im sure he or she will do well regardless of what the test scores and rankings are at his school. The cream always rises to the top.

To be honest, I don't think there are any public high schools on the peninsula that meet that criteria, and you will probably only find private schools with 99% of the students going to college. Just taking the San Mateo Union High School District, with 7 high schools spread out from San Bruno through San Mateo...all of which have Excellence Funds (and none of the schools meet the criteria you're posting about) . Students have their home school but can also transfer into any of the other schools within the district, so at any given school there are students living in any one of 5 cities. The communities aren't small and tight knit and you don't know what your neighbor (or other students parents) does for a living.

Foundations/Excellence Funds are being requested all probably all schools on the peninsula. I think it would be hard to find a peninsula school that isn't requesting contributions.

[hsw]

Over past 25yrs, education costs per capita (K-12, college, public or pvt) have spiraled well beyond CPI (or even similarly absurd healthcare costs and profit margins), yet most employers don't seem to find more skilled kids coming out of leading colleges (aren't ~30-40% of lib arts grads un/underemployed after their $250K diploma?)

Very effective scam of parents/taxpayers/kids by education unions and nonprofits, as more money spent rarely translates efficiently into better education/skills/jobs

Ironically, ~50% of the Engineering PhD students at Stanford are products of poor rural schools in India...and many of SV's top engineers/founders are products of mediocre public schools all over US suburbia...so, the alleged math/science weaknesses of US schools or kids are dubious postulates, esp when so few innovative new cos. have been created in Germany/Japan/India/China over past 25yrs vs stuff SV routinely creates, often by kids who are originally from rather cash/resource-poor K-12 schools

[Ultrarunner]

A long time family friend said this is the case in Piedmont CA... He said just about all the parents contribute and most don't have a problem because the quality of the education is high.

[clongirl]

Also want to mention...I remember having to donate a lot when my son when to private Catholic school in San Francisco (in addition to the usual fees, uniform, and yearly tuition). So it was even harder to be "off the hook" and you'd get a double whammy of guilt and shame since the head nun would seem to know who was giving to the school and the priest would know who was attending mass!

My cousin went to the exclusive "Town School for Boys" in SF and the yearly tuition (not counting extra field trips to Italy) was around 26k a year, back in the 90's...

So I guess you can see that any extras for the public schools suddenly seem pretty measly- even if it's 500$ or so.

[Ceece]

I got it from a lady at San Mateo Central Park lol, she was upset because they are losing their house and started unleashing her problems upon my wife and I. She specifically told me that the school her kids attend are considering posting a "Non-Contributor" list up. So she told the faculty that if they do this, they will never see another dime from her

.

She was upset and saying things that probably were not true. It happens. I've never seen "a list" of contributors either FYI, unless it was somthing like buying a brick for the new quad or a seat in the new theater or something..

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by Ceece

.

She was upset and saying things that probably were not true. It happens. I've never seen "a list" of contributors either FYI, unless it was somthing like buying a brick for the new quad or a seat in the new theater or something..

Hence the reason I asked "Can anyone corroborate this?" in the original post.