An Apple for the Parents - charter schools

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, June, 1999 by Justin Wiser

That first year, about 60% of families made the requested contributions and some gave more, bringing in just over $100,000. Parents also volunteered in a stream of fund-raisers. Christmas-tree sales netted about $15,000; a book fair, $2,500; a block party, $3,500; school pictures, $2,500; gift-wrap sales, $5,000. A spring auction cleared a whopping $50,000. A mailing to every neighborhood household asking for donations yielded $15,000.

In all, a budget of more than $200,000 allowed the HSA to hire six co-teachers, one each for grades 1 through 6, plus part-time art, music and science teachers. "These are things you would usually take for granted," says Carole McCants, HSA treasurer and mother of Ryan, a sixth-grader. The group also ponied up for teaching materials for the Chicago Everyday Math curriculum and other supplies that the city school system wouldn't pay for.

It has all made a huge difference, says Hunsberger. In 1996, the first year the extra funds were put to use, her son Andrew's third-grade class had 30 children. But because there was a co-teacher, the class could often break into groups of 15 so that one teacher was not always grappling with 30 8-year-olds. "My son had a successful year, and I give the extra teachers a lot of the credit," says Hunsberger.

Ana Evans, who does bookkeeping for the HSA and has twin daughters in the third grade, is convinced that the extra time and money she spends buy a bargain education. "When I consider that a private school costs $15,000, I can't imagine my children would have had a better experience," she says.

With a combination of hard work and a little luck, parents have managed to maintain the contributions and keep up their fund-raising efforts. But putting the funds to use has taken nearly as much effort as raising them.

The HSA, not the school, employs the extra teachers, who earn about $15 an hour. A committee of two parents, two teachers and the school principal handle the interviewing and hiring. "The challenge is to find someone who's qualified but doesn't want the full-time salary and responsibility," says Hunsberger.

HSA parents are also responsible for payroll, tax withholding and accounting, which they tackled themselves for two years before hiring a payroll service. The association even provides a group health insurance plan and contributes $100 toward each teacher's premiums. "It's really become a small business with 12 employees," says Hunsberger.

But it's a small business that relies on the generosity of others to make payroll, so funding is always precarious. The first year an anonymous donor gave $25,000. The next year the auction raised more than anticipated. Last year the principal was able to put the music teacher back into the school's budget. "We count on these events, but they're really too ephemeral for budgeting salaries," says Hunsberger, who is unsure how much longer parents can sustain the effort.

Just as parents may be tiring, the District of Columbia may be poised to pick up at least part of the burden. Next year a shift in the way D.C. calculates school funding would add $116,000 to Eaton's budget. And a program sponsored by the Carnegie Academy for Science Education might take care of the need for a science teacher. "There are signs of hope that the system will improve," says Hunsberger. And that would allow Eaton's parents to take a much-needed breather.