Opinion: Tax Steps Could Reduce Inequality in Schools Giving

Giving by affluent parents to foundations serving their children’s schools has “unintended, pernicious effects” that widen inequalities in education funding, says the co-director of Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society argues in a New York Times opinion column.

Rob Reich writes that because such foundations are charities to which donations are tax-deductible, federal and state governments are in effect subsidizing schools that are already well-supported and forgoing revenue that could aid public education in general.

Mr. Reich calls for wealthy school foundations to support aggregation of giving across schools and to push for reforms, such as amending California’s Proposition 13 property-tax limits, to generate more education revenue over all. He also backs eliminating charity status for local school foundations or creating a tiered system wherein gifts to groups raising money for poorer districts earn bigger tax breaks.