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| CUSD weighs selling naming rights By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] Published/Last Modified on Friday, October 24, 2008 11:33 AM PDT The Cabrillo Unified School District is journeying into “uncharted territory,” exploring an uncertain, but potentially lucrative, fundraising proposal to sell rights to name school property including a building, classroom wing or even an entire public school. By all accounts, any discussion of selling school-naming rights is preliminary and has only been considered by the school board as a concept, not as a fully drafted proposal. School board members agreed during their last meeting earlier this month to proceed cautiously with studying the idea. In concept, the proposal would allow a private individual or business to name a particular piece of school property in exchange for a sizable donation to the district. The idea, which was proposed to the board by the Cabrillo Education Foundation, was suggested as a viable fundraising option to help the district through an extremely difficult period financially. “Universities have been doing this forever; it’s one of their main ways for reining in money for their endowments,” said John Ediger, CEF president. “As the new Cunha school is being built, we saw this as an opportunity.” Ediger told the school board that selling the naming rights to buildings such as the new library at Cunha Intermediate School, could net the school district or the CEF endowment anywhere from $250,000 to $2 million. Ediger said that estimate was calculated by ratcheting down the money raised by universities that name buildings after large donors. Ediger says that soliciting a large donation could greatly help the school district as it deals with an increasingly bad financial situation. Even better, Ediger said, if the money was given to the CEF, then the endowment fund could consistently help the school for future years, instead of giving the school district a one-time financial injection. “The endowment benefits all the schools for generation to generation, and it would be used strategically,” Ediger said. “The endowment is not a Band-Aid solution for the budget problem; this is so we won’t have these budget problems year after year.” Naming a school building after a local honoree is not a new idea. Districts across the state have chosen to honor local contributors, typically for generous community service or land donations. In Half Moon Bay, both Cunha Intermediate and Hatch Elementary schools were named for local contributors. Karen Clancy, vice president of the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, says her school board tried a similar idea back in 2003, when the district’s budget was hammered by massive budget cuts by Gov. Gray Davis. With strong support from parents, Clancy says they approved an exhaustive set of criteria for how corporations or private individuals could sponsor a school building. “But we didn’t find anyone who wanted to make a donation,” Clancy said. “I think there were some parents that decided to go out to local corporations and ask if they’d be interested in making a donation ... but they didn’t have success.” Clancy says that, in her experience, large businesses aren’t really interested in getting recognition at small local schools. “I think most corporations think of sponsoring schools differently than, say, a football stadium,” she said. “I’m guessing they would give to schools for educational purposes, but not commercial.” Cabrillo Superintendent Rob Gaskill says he is unsure whether any other school district in California has successfully sold school naming rights to generate funds. “I have no direct or indirect experience with the notion of designating ‘naming rights’ as a fundraising strategy,” Gaskill wrote in an e-mail to the Review. “I have experienced issues associated with naming buildings or parts of buildings — but never as a fundraising venture.” Members of the school board expressed some reservations about the proposal. “I‘m very much undecided about it,” said Kirk Reimer, school board vice president. “Personally, as a private citizen, I have problems with the naming of buildings in receipt for payment.” Reimer expressed hesitation to endorse a fundraising solution for the current budget problems that would have permanent effects on schools. It also has been proposed that the school board could decide to make the naming of school property temporary. President John Moseley and board member Charles Gardner – currently running for re-election — both said there are lots of factors that have to be weighed in this proposal, but both said the revenue raised would be invaluable. “I feel it’s incumbent on me as a trustee of the district to be open to ways to gain revenue in light of our state budget,” Moseley said. “We’re taking the no-stone-untouched approach to school funding,” Gardner said. “We’re not going to rush into this, although it’s appealing for raising revenue that we’re in dire need of.” However, CUSD board candidate Ken Johnson said he was against the idea of permanently naming public buildings for funding. “Renaming a campus for funding is not what one wants to consider … if it’s considered it should be over three-year periods,” Johnson said. “I would rather see a computer lab being supplied by an individual or group and then getting naming rights.” |