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Silicon Valley businesses are donating thousands of dollars to support advanced educational programs at schools like Andrew Hill High School in San Jose. But they are going to be asked to give more to sustain the programs that hold the promise of producing better educated students who are eager to develop marketable skills.
One of those programs - the International Baccalaureate program - is important enough to warrant a June 4 visit to Andrew Hill High by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who praised the program as "a model."
But if the International Baccalaureate program is so great, why doesn't it get more state funding and why do teachers need to become fundraisers?
"There you are," says Marilyn Bliss, a program coordinator at the school, identifying those as the central questions. "I don't know why there isn't more state support. We need sustainable funding."
Ms. Bliss has secured donations from the health care industry for a special medical instruction program at Andrew Hill. But the school this year brought in a public relations firm to try to raise private support for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which features independent study in science, math, fine arts and other areas.
Andrew Hill had an operating budget of about $50,000 this school year for the IB program. But that was just for planning...