Parents, community unaware and confused Sports in District schools have been spared from a 28 percent budget cut, thanks to a private donor who pledged $1.5 million to keep the D.C. Public Schools’ athletics programs afloat.
“The grant is a gift from a very generous, anonymous donor with an interest in supporting programs that promote the health and well-being, and in particular PE and athletics, for DCPS students,” said Cate Swinburn, executive director of the D.C. Public Education Fund, a nonprofit formed to find philanthropy dollars for the District’s public schools.
The money will help schools purchase athletic equipment and add programs for girls, said Frederick Lewis, a spokesman for Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson: Bowling and flag football are on tap.
Lewis said school officials became aware of the $1.5 million “this fiscal year,” but couldn’t provide a date by deadline.
Although delighted to learn that sports had been saved, DCPS parents and community members are baffled that no one told them about the donation as they fundraised and wrote city officials to protest a problem that had already been solved.
Swinburn explained that when a donor wishes to stay anonymous, the Education Fund doesn’t publicize the gift.
Two days after the D.C. Council approved the schools budget on June 14, council members were unaware of the donation. At Henderson’s June 16 confirmation hearing, she was asked about the 28 percent cut to sports and said she would have to check with her staff.
In a June 22 email to Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, Henderson wrote, “I am happy to report that while the amount noted for athletics in the FY12 Budget Book appears to be a reduction in funding for DCPS Athletics, we have actually received a private donation. … ”
Henderson’s staff reiterated to The
Examiner that the $1 million — with an additional $500,000 pledged — was kept under wraps because of its anonymous donor.
“That’s ridiculous — why would they not want to share that information?” said Linwood Jolly, a School Without Walls Senior High School parent and president of the magnet’s Home-School Association.
Even after learning of the donation, Jolly said he’s skeptical and is unsure whether to abort Walls’ plans to fundraise independently. “I feel the same way as we’ve been feeling about the overall DCPS budget,” he said. “We’ve been left in the dark. We don’t get any info, and the info we get is wrong.”
Mary Levy, a longtime budget watchdog who assisted the council with its budgeting process, said she had questions about the secretive nature of the donation.
“Certainly I’m very curious as to what kind of strings are attached,” Levy said. She was also concerned about the schools’ reliance on possibly one-time funds. “Next year, what do you do? Say, ‘Sorry, kids’?”
The 2010-2011 school year was sticky for DCPS athletics, as high school teams didn’t receive their budgets until March, seven months after the school year began, The Washington Examiner first reported. Several coaches and athletic directors told The Examiner that they still had not been paid for their work in the 2009-2010 school year.
