Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | The issue of requiring public school students and their families to pay for uniforms and/or supplies to participate in a particular kind of class or extra-curricular activity is prohibited by law and everyone knows it, no matter what the practice at a given school. Pay-to-play rules don’t “stigmatize” poor kids: they exclude them.
This is an opportune moment for a philanthropic institution like the San Diego Foundation to step in, develop a fund and make an annual significant donation to the local public schools to cover such costs. It would be a huge help, it’s entirely local and it would win that organization a lot of friends.