Playing Politics With Education : Orange Trustees Should Welcome, Not Shun, Offers of Help

Just about every school in Orange County would welcome more money. Even before the bankruptcy cost school districts short-term deposits they had been forced to make with the county-run investment pool, the schools hardly were flush. Bake sales, candy sales, volunteer parent labor, teachers stretching supplies, all went to supplement school funds and benefit students.

Now comes the Orange Unified School District, which is considering forbidding its schools from applying for any nonacademic grants. That would include seeking funds for social services such as family counseling, medical and dental care and possibly even free breakfast programs.

Such a ban would be a bad idea. The district’s board members should heed the parents and community leaders who last month argued against such a ban.

One trustee, Max Reissmueller, said the schools were not intended to be a welfare system. True enough. Parents able to feed their children a nutritious breakfast before sending them off to class, able to provide medical and dental care, should do so. It bolsters the family; it helps the children. It is the responsibility of the parents.

But what happens when parents are unable to provide the necessities for their children? Should we just write the children off? Of course not. Orange Unified is not being asked to provide its own money to help needy students. The school breakfast program is federally funded. Without breakfast, students concentrate on their hunger, not math and English. Keeping children hungry will not help them learn, and without education, the cycle of unemployment and an inability to feed children at home will only continue.

Another trustee said the ban was part of the Republican agenda. But school board offices are nonpartisan; injecting party politics into the schools is wrong.

Schools like Lampson Elementary, where three-quarters of the students live in poverty, would suffer from any ban. Lampson recently received $25,000 from the philanthropic Weingart Foundation to help pay for a counselor and a family resource center on campus. That is the sort of assistance that should be encouraged and sought after. It should not be turned away.

Orange Unified has had more than its share of problems in recent years, from corruption charges against district employees--when different board members held office--to a revolving door for school superintendents. The trustees need to concentrate on helping teachers and administrators provide a good education for students. They should not handicap children in the name of fealty to a political or philosophical agenda.