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Albany School District Levels Parent Fundraising Playing Field

Concerned about equity, 3 elementary school PTAs pool money for daytime enrichment
The tiny Albany Unified School District in the East Bay was, until 2011, like many others in the state: Schools with the best parent fundraising were able to reap all the benefits for their own kids. Superintendent Marla Stephenson said the disparities had been immediately apparent when she began working for the district in 2008. Three years later she led the switch to a single annual campaign for all three schools — one that could provide an example for San Francisco and other districts struggling with inequities made worse by parent fundraising.
Part of a special report on education inequality in San Francisco. A version of this story ran in the winter 2014 print edition.