It’s unfortunate that the Lawrence school district may have to turn to charitable donations to fund its basic operations, but it’s good that the district has the Lawrence Schools Foundation that is ready and willing to help facilitate that process.

The foundation, which has handled private fundraising for the school district for some time, is accepting donations to help ease the current budget crisis. It’s recommending, however, that donors wait to make their gifts until the school board has made its decision about budget cuts in March or April.

The foundation’s trustees set up a fund that will be used for the district’s “general operations,” but donors won’t be able to specify how their gift will be used. Those decisions will be made by the school board.

Barring donors from designating the use of their gifts probably is an effort to stave off donations to specific programs or schools. It makes sense that the board should direct the money where it is most needed, but the foundation may find it difficult to attract a large number of donations without putting at least a few parameters on how the money would be used.

For instance, there are many people who might like to fund a librarian’s position but wouldn’t want to see their contribution spent on athletic facilities in the district, at least in the current financial crunch.

The concern is the same one being experienced by university endowments across the country, who report that it has gotten more difficult to attract unrestricted gifts. People want to know how their money is going to be used.

As a community, Lawrence is extremely supportive of its public schools, and a “budget assistance fund” probably would draw many contributions. Many local residents have expressed a willingness to pay higher taxes to avoid school closings and other cuts so making a charitable donation would be a logical alternative.

There is, of course, the ironic possibility that an influx of charitable giving for public schools might cause Kansas legislators to feel less pressure to provide proper state funding for K-12 education. Again, state universities have experienced that trend. As they build up their endowments, they find legislators more willing to depend on those private funds to supply not just the extras but the meat and potatoes of higher education.

Encouraging undesignated donations to fund basic school district operations is uncharted territory for the Lawrence Schools Foundation. It will present some new challenges, to be sure, but we are fortunate to have this additional outlet to help ease some of the school district’s current financial pain.