Wealthy Districts Drive Spike in Giving for Public Schools

Fundraising by nonprofits supporting specific public schools and school districts more than quadrupled from 1995 to 2010, The New York Times reports, citing new research. The boom is driven by parents in high-income communities, fueling a debate about educational inequality, the Times says.

Private groups associated with schools and districts raised about $880-million in 2010, compared to $197-million 15 years earlier, according to a study by two Indiana University researchers published in the journal Education Finance and Policy. The number of such organizations grew from 3,500 to 11,500 in that time.

Groups in affluent areas donated dozens, even hundreds of times more per student than those in neighboring, lower-income districts. The rise in public-school philanthropy is due in part by funding formulas adopted in most states that cap or redirect property-tax revenue to equalize government spending among districts, closing off local tax hikes as a way to boost funding for particular districts.