Thirty percent of the $500 million publishing heir Walter H. Annenberg is donating to public education will go to the nation's nine largest school districts, and millions more will create an electronic library designed to give the poorest public school in Appalachia the same books, plays, music and other resources available at Harvard.
Annenberg, 85, speaking at the White House Friday with President Clinton and Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, said he was donating the largest gift ever to education because he was "deeply troubled by the violence in some grade schools and high schools.""If this continues, it will not only erode the education system but will destroy our way of life in the United States," said Annenberg, challenging other wealthy Americans and companies to join him in giving. "I believe that those who control sizable funds should feel an obligation to join this crusade for the betterment of our country."
The entire grant, to be paid out over five years, will be directed at duplicating in failing schools the approaches taken in successful ones.
Three nationally known education-reform groups Friday were awarded a total of $115 million. Plans for the rest of the money are to be announced by June, with a significant amount going to hundreds of schools in large urban districts. Many of the details on how schools actually will receive the money are yet to be worked out, including which grants, if any, will require matching funds.
"There is no fixed formula," said Vartan Gregorian, the president of Brown University and a chief adviser to Annenberg on the grant disbursement. Some poor schools would not be expected to raise any money in order to get a windfall.
The national electronic library is one of the most exciting plans, according to Gregorian, who said it is unacceptable that "our grocery stores are much better (technologically) equipped than some of our schools."
The nation's colleges and universities could help coordinate this venture, so that all elementary and secondary schools, no matter how poor they are, would have access to the widest variety of information, texts and cultural resources. After issues of "intellectual property rights" are worked out, Gregorian said that, for instance, the Encyclopaedia Brittanica could be bought and made available to every school in the country on the electronic network.
Clinton heralded the gift in a small ceremony in the Roosevelt Room, where he sat in front of the fireplace with Annenberg, who once served as ambassador to Britain.
"It could not have come at a better time," Clinton said.