Spread the Reward Around

A wealthy Wall Street executive’s plan to give what amounts to $1,000 private school scholarships to needy families in Los Angeles will no doubt cause quite a number of students to head out of inner-city public schools. But no more than a tiny fraction of the district’s 700,000 students will be departing. Only 5,000 will be able to take advantage of the $20-million donation from investment banker Theodore J. Forstmann.

Forstmann’s plan represents an interesting philanthropic development, but a question should be asked: Wouldn’t the money be even better aimed if it could reward good public schools as well as private institutions?

In the Washington, D.C., school district where Forstmann first set up his program with Wal-Mart heir John Walton, more than 7,500 students, nearly a 10th of the district enrollment, applied for 1,000 grants. The money may be used to attend private, parochial or public schools in superior suburban districts. A similar program, chaired by businessman Bruce Kovner, created a great demand among students in New York City.

These wealthy men say they choose to invest in families, not bureaucracies, to create a more competitive environment and more educational choices where the need is the greatest. They tap into the desires of desperate parents who only want the best for their children. They also understand the frustrations of those who have been promised better schools for years, to no avail, while their children run out of time.

The Los Angeles school district allows open enrollment, and many savvy parents manage through effort, persistence and luck to get their children into magnet schools and specialized programs.

More low-income parents could send their children to a campus with better discipline or academic results if they could afford transportation. That is one way Forstmann’s generosity could help thousands more students and reward good public schools in poor neighborhoods. Or the money could create more magnet schools; it could be given to parents for after-school and Saturday tutoring for children who need only a little extra help to make the grade.

Forstmann of course can spend his money any way he pleases. The loss of motivated students from the public schools would be regrettable. But who can blame poor parents and their children for getting in line?