Public schools and private philanthropy

Public school budgets are always stretched to their limits, and one of the ways those limits are sometimes surmounted is with an infusion of private funds, from big foundations with an interest in education, and also, apparently, from wealthy individuals. The NY Times has a story on how this part of school financing for New York City schools flourished more under the former mayor than it appears to be under the current one.
Public Schools Fund, Under de Blasio, Is Struggling to Lure Wealthy Donors

"The Fund for Public Schools, the nonprofit organization that former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his schools chancellors built into a fund-raising juggernaut, has struggled to attract donations under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The fund, which raised an average of $29 million a year over the last decade, has raised just $18 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, fund officials said. About half of that comes from two large multiyear grants that began under the Bloomberg administration."