A Forum for Community Issues : Commentaries on Education : The Parent Gap : Is local activism ‘privatizing’ some public classrooms?

The California constitution guarantees a public education to any school-age pupilliving in the state and public funds are paid out on a per-pupil basis. But there the equality ends. In two public schools in Los Angeles County-Paradise Canyon Elementary School in affluent La Canada and Normandie Avenue Elementary School in an urban, low-income Los Angeles neighborhood-the focus for each principal is very different.

Both receive state funds based on each student’s average daily attendance. But Charles Proctor, principal at Normandie for the past five years, relies on various government programs to supplement his budget while Sydney Pringle, principal at Paradise Canyon for the past three years, enjoys a very active PTA and another parent group that fund a wide range of curriculum-enhancing programs.

Both principals told interviewer ROBIN GREENE that the key to any school’s success is a dedicated teaching staff. But the presence of parents who can donate considerable time and money to an individual school is , according to some analysts, creating a widening gulf that allows wealthier districts to ignore the overall needs of public education.