School Foundation Rejects Tobacco Money After All

Faced with public outcry over its earlier acceptance of tobacco money, a schools’ fund-raising foundation rejected the money Wednesday by setting a retroactive policy prohibiting donations from alcohol and tobacco companies.

Earlier this year, the Santa Ana Education Foundation approved of an offer from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to print some 3,500 brochures for a mariachi concert to benefit the local school district. The RJR name likely would have appeared on the May 31 and June 1 concert brochures.

The foundation is a private, nonprofit entity separate from the Santa Ana Unified School District, but its goal is to raise money for district programs.

“We didn’t want the controversy to continue,” said foundation President Robert W. Balen, who also sits on the school board. “There were some good points brought up by the public, and we wanted to make it clear that the school district is not sponsoring any alcohol or tobacco products.”

RJR spokeswoman Maura Ellis said she respected the foundation’s decision not to accept the printing services, the value of which had not been determined but could have been thousands of dollars.

“It sounded like a worthwhile project and we wish them well,” Ellis said. “We hope they’re able to find the funding elsewhere.”

The donation sparked some soul-searching among other school districts and foundations in Orange County, which said they had never been offered a tobacco company donation but acknowledged the difficulty of turning down money when budgets are tight.

Most, however, said they doubted they would take such donations out of concern that they would appear to condone certain behaviors.

“We don’t accept donations from alcohol companies, tobacco companies or manufacturers of weapons,” said Saddleback Valley Unified School District Supt. Peter A. Hartman.

Among those opposing the donation in Santa Ana was Carver Concerned Parents, an advocacy group of parents with children at Carver Elementary School. Th group collected more than 100 form letters signed by parents opposing the donation.

“We strongly urge you to return that blood money to RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.,” reads the letter, “and save us the grief of watching another son or daughter die from smoking tobacco.”

Local chapters of the American Heart Assn. and American Lung Assn. also sent letters urging the foundation not to accept the donation, and a handful of speakers opposed the donation at a school board meeting Tuesday.

Some district officials and foundation members have stressed that the details of the RJR donation were never finalized, but Balen said the tobacco company’s involvement in the mariachi concert was “acknowledged by everybody.”

Already, the RJR name has appeared on school district press releases and on brochures for a fund-raising luncheon sponsored by the education foundation.

The foundation’s involvement with a tobacco company contrasted with the district’s numerous anti-tobacco projects, including a conference call with President Clinton last year on the dangers of teen smoking.

Santa Ana resident Jim Walker, who helped arrange the conference call with the president, applauded the foundation’s decision to reject the donation.

“They’re doing the right thing for the sake of their kids and a healthier community,” he said.

Walker also pledged to help raise money for the foundation--possibly by selling $1 black lapel ribbons representing an anti-tobacco stance--to make up for the loss of the tobacco company donation.