The costs of incoming superintendent Meria Carstarphen’s preparation to take charge of the Atlanta Public Schools are largely being paid by a group of nine major regional and national corporations.
To date, nine donors have contributed a total of $200,000. The donors are AGL Resources, Bank of America, Delta Air Lines, Emory Healthcare, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Company, Invesco, Suntrust and the Coca-Cola Company.
Carstarphen was hired in April, but won’t officially start work until July 7. But Carstarphen and the APS board said she needed time to prepare to lead the 48,000-student district.
Carstarphen formed a “transition team” to help her with that work. Since April, Carstarphen has interviewed principals, recruited her picks for top APS positions, and met with parents and Atlanta Public Schools administrators.
Board chairman Courtney English said soliciting outside contributions would prevent draining money from the district’s general budget for next school year — and allow the district to spend more of that money on students.
English raised the money with the support of Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta Committee for Progress, a roundtable of local CEOs and other powerful business and civic leaders, he said. Carstarphen was not involved in asking for money.
“That degree of separation adds a level of cover that prevents any impropriety or undue influence being exerted over the superintendent,” English said.
The donations are being managed by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, an organization that supports philanthropic work in the region, before being distributed to Carstarphen and her team. In addition to the $200,000 raised recently, $147,000 previously raised to support the Atlanta schools is also being used to fund the superintendent transition. English says the goal is to raise a total of $400,000.
So far, the foundation has paid about $260,000 to Carstarphen and her team.
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