The Capital Times September 27, 2007

HEADLINE: Local school donor frustrated by funding snafu

Money given for atlases gets lost in bureaucratic hole

By Susan Troller

Don Becker finds it odd, and annoying, that in a time of dwindling resources and a beleaguered budget, he's had trouble giving money to Madison's public schools.

It's not that he hasn't tried, and hasn't been successful in the past, providing help to a number of schools on items ranging from books to bus rides to practice shirts for girls' athletic teams.

But when it came to signing a check for $2,500 last year to buy updated atlases for classrooms at Muir Elementary School, Becker's money disappeared into a bureaucratic hole at the Doyle Administration Building for months on end. When he tried to follow up on what happened to his donation, he said he was given several different explanations for the delay in purchasing the books.

The bottom line was that when his wife went back this fall to volunteer in her favorite classroom, there was still no sign of the atlases.

Last week, in frustration, Becker called publisher Rand-McNally and bought the atlases himself at what he says is a better price than the district had negotiated. Then he asked for his money back.

According to Becker, he was initially told by Steve Hartley, the district's chief of staff, that although he would get his donation returned, the district would not provide its sales tax certificate number to Rand-McNally so that the $127 tax charged to Becker for the purchase of the atlases could be reimbursed.

"I would just turn around and donate whatever the sales tax was back to the schools," Becker said.

"It's not the money, it's the principle," he added.

In an interview Wednesday, Hartley said that the district would work with Becker and Rand-McNally to get him his reimbursement for the sales tax.

"It felt terrible to me that this happened," Hartley said. He explained that the donation, accepted in January, sat in the schools account until June, when it got caught up in the year-end closing of the books.

"It was very unusual for there to be this kind of problem. In fact, back in January when the gift was accepted (by the school board), it went through with over $96,000 in other transactions and I can't think of any other problem."

He said he has apologized for the mix-up, and particularly regrets that it happened to Becker, who he describes as "just an amazing human being" and one of the district's staunchest financial backers.

The ordeal has left Becker frustrated with the Madison district's central administration, even while he continues to champion public schools here and the principals and teachers who make them work.

"I'm totally satisfied with the great education my kids have gotten and continue to get in the Madison public schools," Becker said in a recent interview. Becker's daughter graduated from Memorial High School and his son is currently a student at Memorial.

Becker, a Madison attorney who is also an enthusiastic and generous supporter of other local charities, says cheerfully that he is "a meddler," who firmly intends to continue contributing money and various services and supplies to the public schools.

But he says he's annoyed with how his effort to help Muir School has backfired, creating a hassle for him and consternation at the elementary school his children attended and where his family has had positive and enduring relationships with teachers and other staff.

He said he's also concerned that the way his donation was fumbled is symptomatic of a larger problem that the district's central administration has in handling, and acknowledging, the gifts community members, businesses or parents want to make to favorite teachers, administrators, schools or administrators. It's a particularly sensitive issue, he said, when the district is facing on-going budget woes.

"I suspect there are many potential donors, others who are equally pleased with their personal experiences or those of their children, who would come forward to support a favorite teacher or school or program," Becker wrote in a letter to The Capital Times. "If the district was interested in donations, it would have a publicly understood and known policy."

According to Johnny Winston Jr., a member of the Madison School Board's community partnerships committee, there is a policy that governs gifts and donations to the schools, and it should have applied to Becker's attempt to give a check to the district that would provide atlases at Muir Elementary.

"This should have been a pretty cut-and-dried situation in terms of what our policy on donations is," Johnny Winston Jr., a member of the Madison School Board's community partnerships committee, said.

"Mr. Becker's donation of $2,500 is well below the $10,000 figure that would require the superintendent's review of the gift. I understand (Becker's) concerns; he's obviously a great champion of our schools. Those atlases should have been bought, and that's that," Winston said.

Martha Vukelich-Austin, president of the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools, suggests that friends of the schools who want to donate money work either through the Foundation or contact the parent-teacher support groups at their favorite schools.

She said that in addition to endowments at each of Madison's public schools that currently total over $1.2 million, many individuals regularly give gifts to the schools that support a variety of programs, supplies and services.

"Honestly, I haven't heard many stories like this one. As far as I know, it's not common," she said. She said that the Foundation is in regular contact with the school district regarding gifts and donations to the schools.

"It's been working for us," she said.

One way to give
The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools, 455 Science Drive, Suite 130, has raised more than $4 million since 2000 to support education here. Donations to the independent organization can be made through the Web site www.fmps.org or by calling the nonprofit group at 232-7820.