Donations Slowly Coming In to Irvine Schools Foundation

In the 2 1/2 weeks since Irvine voters rejected a parcel tax for schools, the Irvine Public Schools Foundation has come about $100,000 closer to its goal of raising $1.65 million to help bail out the financially strapped district.

The foundation’s coffers have grown to $600,000 from about $500,000 since the pledge was made, executive director Greg Bradbard said, and the push is on to raise the remaining $1 million by the end of the school year.

“We really need people to respond, and we need to move as quickly as we can,” Bradbard said. “It’s almost 10 times what we’ve raised in [previous] years.”

The schools foundation pledge was part of a $3.9-million package that included $1.8 million from the Irvine Co. and $350,000 from the Donald Bren Foundation.

The gift gave the school district a one-year reprieve from budget cuts that would have included at least 120 teacher layoffs and the end of art, music and science enrichment programs at elementary schools.

The parcel tax, which missed approval by a couple of percentage points, would have raised $3.1 million annually for 16 years to help offset a projected $4-million annual budget shortfall.

The foundation had originally pledged its $1.65 million by May 15, the date teacher layoff notices would have been sent out. But since the bailout announcement, the school board has rescinded pink slips sent in February, allowing more time for fund-raising.

Bradbard said the publicity surrounding the bailout announcement overshadowed the fact that the schools foundation’s contribution still has to be collected.

“A lot of people have misunderstood and thought it was basically a flat-out $3.9-million gift that came in,” Bradbard said. “The checks have been trickling in.”

The foundation has been passing out fliers through the PTA encouraging residents to donate the money they would have paid had the $95 parcel tax been approved.

Foundation board members are contacting local businesses, small and large, to find donors. No companies have signed on yet.

“It’ll probably be a good month or so before we start to see some significant returns or contributions from the corporate sector,” Bradbard said.

But the foundation is confident it can succeed with its most ambitious fund-raising effort to date.

“After the Measure A campaign and the support we’ve seen in the community, we feel confident the community does value the schools,” Bradbard said. “They can help make us successful.”