Irvine : Schools’ Data-Link Drive May Resume

Despite tough financial times, school board members want to revive the ambitious, $10-million Foundations for the Future fund-raising program that once promised to wire the entire school district to the information superhighway.

The Irvine Unified School District is fighting for its financial life, facing $3 million in cuts from the next school year’s $100-million budget.

After the county declared bankruptcy, the push to raise $10 million for the Foundations for the Future program was put on hold and contracts with fund-raisers were not renewed.

But school board member Margie Wakeham has vowed to keep the idea of creating an information-age school district alive. “We’re not going to let it die,” Wakeham said. “It is too important and it is what all districts should be doing.”

The school board will consider reviving the Foundations for the Future board and redefining the program’s most immediate goals.

Engineering giant Fluor Daniel, Dimension Cable, Pacific Bell and other major corporations offered to donate time and technology to the program. The Irvine Co. pledged $3 million to the program, of which $1.2 million was frozen in the county investment pool.

The school board agreed Tuesday night to pay $20,000 promised to teachers who have already gone through training for the program.