"Private Money For Public Schools"
Here's that Eight Forty-Eight segment on the rise of foundations in Chicago that I did last week, for anyone who's interested:
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What do you think -- do foundations play too big a role in CPS, at your school or in general?
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Mon Jan 21, 2008 at 4:56 PM
"Private Money For Public Schools"
Alexander, I listened to the interview and the questions deserve much more in depth responses than can be given in such a format. I would challenge you to point to a place on the web where you can document any of the opinions you provided in your responses.
I've been concerned about the direction of private and corporate funding because it pushes the emphasis on education kids almost completely to the conclusion that better teachers, better curriculum and better principles will solve all problems. If you visit the UCLA Center for Mental Health In Schools web site, you would find strong disagreement to that conclusion. You can find links to the UCLA site at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2007/03/out-of-box-thinking-needed-to-improve.html
The danger of the strong emphasis on one solution, is that in a follow the leader impact, this reduces money, and attention, available for other solutions.
Since businesses also are funding in-school solutions, such as charter schools, and being asked by CPS for more funding, this leaves less for out of the box solutions, such as 3-5 pm youth centers and after 5pm tutoring/mentoring and extra learning programs. For instance I saw a Tribune article in 2006 that said "Chicago Public Schools had raised $25 million in 2005 from corporations and foundations, vis only $2 million five years ago." Unless that is $23 million in new money, it's money that would have been funding other solutions in the past.
I wrote about this on my blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-alert-celebs-anti-aids-effort-can.html
I don't know of a web site on philanthropy that is providing well documented answers to the questions you were asked on radio, so I'm not sure how you could have responded any differently, or where you get your information. If you know of a web site with this type of information, please share the link.
I've been concerned about the direction of private and corporate funding because it pushes the emphasis on education kids almost completely to the conclusion that better teachers, better curriculum and better principles will solve all problems. If you visit the UCLA Center for Mental Health In Schools web site, you would find strong disagreement to that conclusion. You can find links to the UCLA site at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2007/03/out-of-box-thinking-needed-to-improve.html
The danger of the strong emphasis on one solution, is that in a follow the leader impact, this reduces money, and attention, available for other solutions.
Since businesses also are funding in-school solutions, such as charter schools, and being asked by CPS for more funding, this leaves less for out of the box solutions, such as 3-5 pm youth centers and after 5pm tutoring/mentoring and extra learning programs. For instance I saw a Tribune article in 2006 that said "Chicago Public Schools had raised $25 million in 2005 from corporations and foundations, vis only $2 million five years ago." Unless that is $23 million in new money, it's money that would have been funding other solutions in the past.
I wrote about this on my blog at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2006/10/red-alert-celebs-anti-aids-effort-can.html
I don't know of a web site on philanthropy that is providing well documented answers to the questions you were asked on radio, so I'm not sure how you could have responded any differently, or where you get your information. If you know of a web site with this type of information, please share the link.
