Couple Pays Up so Schools ‘Know People Care’

Irvine residents John and Carolyn Brossa aren’t school activists. And they certainly don’t care for higher taxes. But Irvine public schools have given a lot to their four grown children. So Wednesday was payback time. The day after a tax measure failed that would have brought $3 million a year into the district, the Brossas decided to pay their share anyhow.

John Brossa, a carpenter, drove to nearby Bonita Canyon Elementary School and handed Principal Robin Beacham a personal check for $1,520. That’s the amount he and his wife, an Irvine real estate agent, would have owed if the $95-a-parcel tax had been in effect during the 16 years their children were in the local public schools.

The idea came after a glance at the morning paper confirmed the parcel tax’s defeat, said John Brossa, 49. He and a neighbor discussed the loss, stunned.

“I’m going down to that school, and I’m going to write a check to let them know people care about them,” Brossa told his neighbor.

The Brossas’ children attended Woodbridge and University high schools and Alderwood Basics Plus Elementary School, he said.

Supt. Patricia Clark White was startled by the couple’s generosity. “It was a wonderful surprise” in an otherwise dim day, she said.

Other donations, most for $95, have trickled into the Irvine Public Schools Foundation since the failure of the last tax attempt, in November.