Dollar a day goal in Davis

Even in Davis, it might be asking too much.

Residents in the progressive enclave are being urged to donate a dollar a day, or $365, for each child enrolled in the Davis Joint Unified School District, to help close a $4 million funding gap caused by declining enrollment and the state's multibillion-dollar budget crisis.

Some advocates have suggested residents donate all or part of the amount they expect to receive in their federal tax rebates.

"If the community is going to save teachers and programs, we are going to have to pull together and do it ourselves," said Janet Berry, president of the Davis Schools Foundation, a nonprofit group that is leading the fund-raising campaign.

For homeowners, any donations would be in addition to property taxes and a $200-per-household parcel tax that Davis voters approved last year to fund school programs.

So far, the unusual appeal for private donations for schools seems to be working.

The foundation's volunteers sent letters to parents and put out donation boxes last week.

On Wednesday, they tallied up $140,000 in contributions, enough to cover salary and benefits for two teachers.

The group's goal is to raise between $3 million and $4 million to prevent the layoff of teachers and staff and the elimination of programs such as music, science and foreign languages.

Berry said the money needs to be raised by May 15, when the governor releases his revised budget and Davis school officials have to decide on cuts to balance the district's budget.

Proposed cuts include closure of Emerson Junior High School, one of three middle schools. Shutting its doors would save $600,000 a year, according to district projections.

In the past two weeks, more than 100 teachers and staff have received notices that they could lose their jobs at the end of the school year.

District officials are considering cutting school librarians.

Parents need to donate to ensure the quality of their children's education, said Berry, a marketing consultant whose mother was a teacher and whose father drove a school bus.

Such large-scale fundraising campaigns have been successful in affluent school districts in the Bay Area and Southern California but are relatively rare in the Sacramento region.

The Davis Schools Foundation raised more than $200,000 the previous two years, but has never attempted a multimillion-dollar campaign, Berry said.

"This is the first time we've been asked to raise this much," Berry said. "The magnitude of the deficit is what is creating the larger goals."

Although not everyone can write a check for $365, the district has set up a program in which participants can have $30 a month deducted from their paychecks, she said.

Melanie Bowden, a Davis freelance writer who has daughters in the seventh and 10th grades, said she plans to donate to the foundation this week.

She said she'll be reimbursed when the federal government's economic-stimulus check arrives in the mail.

"A lot of people think they don't have the money to donate, but this is money they didn't expect," she said. "They can just turn around and donate it."

School board member Richard Harris said the district is out of ways to raise revenue and needs private donations now and in the future as an "almost voluntary parcel tax."

Placing a parcel tax on the ballot is an option but would come too late to help this year, he said.

Harris said Davis residents can be counted on to support their schools.

"It's a university town, and people value education," he said. "If any community is going to put their money where their mouth is, it's going to be this one."

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