COMMENTARY ON EDUCATION : Learning Is Too Vital to Be Filed Under ‘Corporate Investment’ : So near a pivotal election, the Irvine Co.’s timing in sending $1 million to schools sets a dangerous precedent.

Orange County, California, is something else. It’s a bold, up-from-the-bootstraps kind of place; home to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, numerous business and industrial parks and a wide array of sparkling residential communities that have burst forth from the soil with a suddenness that has hardly been equaled anywhere else.

It seems that the whole county is a giant stage where entrepreneurs--especially the county’s builders and developers--play the leading roles. There are no doubt more “tribute” fund-raising dinners here honoring the county’s real estate royalty than in any other place in the world, celebrating such qualities as perseverance, hard work, volunteerism and philanthropy--the very things, we’re told, that made our country great.

As far as cities go, Irvine is the most “Orange County” city of them all. Only in Irvine could a $1-million “donation” to a cash-poor public school district be accompanied by the morally audacious claim that “another $2 million” might be forthcoming from the giver if certain housing projects won the favor of the voting public.

That’s exactly what happened several weeks ago when the county’s first billionaire, Donald L. Bren, much-feted head of the Irvine Co. and largest landowner in the county, had one of his vice presidents hand over a seven-figure check to the president of the Irvine Unified School District board of education. A delay in approval of the projects--or, more specifically, a no vote on Measure B by Irvine voters--the vice president said, would probably delay delivery of the additional $2 million. The executive also said the timing of the announcement was not related to Tuesday’s election.

As it turned out, Measure B passed narrowly. But people who believe in education and are already figuring out how to spend the Irvine Co.’s next $2 million should hold off on their celebration and reread the story of the Trojan horse.

The Irvine Co.’s so-called donation of $1 million several weeks ago started a school district plan to raise $25 million for public education in the next decade from corporations and individuals. This is exciting stuff. Raising money is one of the things Orange County’s movers and shakers do best. Besides, regular people regularly reject ballot measures that would raise their taxes--especially when they think their existing taxes aren’t well spent in the first place.

Starting a $25-million campaign means high-income companies and individuals will be asked by the local heavyweights to help “save” education in Irvine by digging into their pockets and doing something truly meaningful “for the kids.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

It stresses credibility that the announcement was met with applause and praise instead of jeers and boos. For the wealthy among us to become the self-appointed white knights of public education is fundamentally wrong.

The Irvine Co.’s unprecedented strings-attached offer to win approval for new housing projects--through a “gift” that promises to fulfill every parent’s dream of better schools for their children--was both arrogant and sleazy, dramatizing how far off course we’ve strayed.

What might other donors require in return for their generous gifts? Are we to expect demands on changes to the curricula as well? Are school districts in less affluent areas, affecting millions of children in California, going to simply have to do without?

The burden for public education is supposed be shared by the taxpaying public. Opportunities for quality learning experiences in math, science, the humanities and music and the other arts are supposed to be available to all children everywhere--not just fortunate sons and daughters reared in such cities as Irvine, where parents might be more able to foot the education bill.

The message we need to send to school districts, city councils and the state Legislature is that a good education is the right of every child, not just those who live in the wealthiest neighborhoods.

If communities come to depend upon the contributions of well-intentioned residents and corporations, the disparity between schools that have adequate resources and those that have much less will be significant. In such a system, a child’s education will probably be only as good as their ZIP code.

As long as people are willing to make up the difference, and school officials encourage them to do so, our leaders will not have to come to terms with their responsibility of funding quality education for all by properly managing the income they receive. Excess and waste are the chief culprits and contributors to our crisis in education. A $25-million campaign isn’t the answer in Irvine or anyplace else.

Shame on the governor and state legislators, who encourage such “free enterprise” approaches to solving the state’s education funding crisis.

Shame on decision-makers and leaders who fail to make responsible cutbacks and reduce government waste at the county and state levels.

Shame on the Irvine Co. for paying--not donating--$1 million in anticipation of a handsome profit down the road when more housing projects are completed.

And shame on all of us who sit back complacently and tolerate, election after election, incumbents whose past lack of performance is a crystal-clear indication of what we can expect from them in the future.