#which was like solidly half the price i paid for each of them but i was like.. it’s still probably more than i’d get if i did a return

[fingertipsmp3]

I love starting to do something and just, immediately realising I have neither the patience nor the communication skills for it lol

[chibinightowl]

10. “Poppycock! No fool could ever be that daft to actually go through with it!”, Bruce/Clark but its Bruce who says poppycock.

I swear, I have started and failed this prompt about half a dozen times. I even built an entire Holmesian AU in my head around it. And yet, what do I end up with? This. I hope you enjoy! (also, love your icon! Asmo is amazing!)

(also, for the anon who asked for #10 with Alfred and Bruce, this is also your response too!)

~*~*~

There was nothing quite like the glitz and glamor of a charity auction hosted by the Wayne Foundation, Clark decided. These sort of puff pieces were beneath a reporter of his caliber, but he appreciated covering events hosted by Bruce because he knew that not only were the funds being raised going to the right places, but that the majority of the costs associated with hosting this were covered by Bruce himself.

Whether they were tax deductible, he’d yet to discover.

Lingering near the canapé table, Clark dutifully took notes for the article that was already mostly written in his head. All he needed were a few quotes from the people who really mattered rather than the attention seekers attracted by his visible press pass. His hearing told him that Tim wasn’t too far and that Bruce was perhaps a few meters beyond his son.

Tim was always good for an honest statement at an event like this, touching on the meaningful points of what his adopted father’s foundation was currently doing. With the right questions, Clark was sure he could learn more about Tim’s own Neon Knights program and how that was progressing.

But, meaningful as that was, it didn’t sell papers or keep people renewing their online subscriptions.

No, what sold papers were the antics of Brucie Wayne, billionaire playboy and philanthropist.

And just like Bruce’s children, Clark really disliked dealing with the Brucie persona that was always in full effect when the public was watching. Nearly two decades hadn’t lessened it in the slightest.

Deciding it was best to get it over with, he made his way through the crowd with his own act of mild mannered reporter who was a tad bit clumsy on display.

As he moved into the periphery of Bruce’s circle of sycophants, Clark noticed that Brucie seemed to be in rare form tonight. To the outside world, there was absolutely nothing going on behind those pale blue eyes. Wide and vapid, they matched his laugh, his smile, his everything.

Brucie was in the middle of a story and gesturing with great enthusiasm. “…And then Alfred said Poppycock! No fool could ever be that daft to actually go through with it! Well, I’m no fool and Dickie had already done it, so I figured I could too.”

Clark zoned out as he tried to maneuver closer, already familiar with the real story about how Dick took it upon himself to try walking a tightrope strung up between two large Las Vegas hotels. Bruce’s public version though explains how he ended up with that broken leg a couple months ago.

The crowd was too tight around Bruce, so he decided hitting up Tim would be the better option. If he was lucky, Brucie would pull some ridiculous stunt before he left that could be added into his article.

No sooner had he turned his sights on Tim, a large hand thumped solidly on the back of his shoulder. “Well, well, well, would you look who’s here?”

It was Bruce.

“Hello there, Nebraska.”

Clark tossed a prayer into the ether for patience. “It’s Kansas.”

“Right, right. I’ll remember next time, Iowa.” Brucie grinned vapidly but Clark didn’t miss the gleam of amusement in his eyes.

Someone wanted to play. Damn, and here he’d been hoping that if he did speak with Bruce, he’d take pity on him and make it easy. No such luck tonight.

“Mr. Wayne, congratulations on the turnout tonight. How much are you and the Wayne Foundation anticipating this auction will raise for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Gotham City area?”

“Ugh, numbers.” Bruce pulled a disgusted face as he looped an arm over Clark’s shoulders and started leading him away. “I hate numbers. They’re so…numbery. Who even invented them anyway?”

“The current number system we use originally evolved from the Hindus by way of the Arabs —“ Clark was cut off with a broad wave of Bruce’s hand that almost hit him in the face.

“If I wanted a history lesson, Smallville, I’d have asked for one.”

Well, at least he was using the right town now. It was better than farm boy, which was probably coming up as Bruce cycled through all his nicknames. The list was long and Clark swore that Lois and Bruce must have a master list that they shared because some of them were just too crazy for them to have come up with on their own.

Clark sighed and pushed his glasses firmly onto his nose. “Mr. Wayne, if you could just give me a brief statement about the auction, I can get out of your hair.”

“Hmm, and go bother Timothy instead?” A brief flash of Bruce’s usual wry humor appeared in his eyes. “No, I think that —”

This time, Bruce was cut off as a well-dressed socialite appeared out of nowhere and tossed champagne right in his face.

“How could you, Brucie?” the brunette wailed, eyes welling with tears so big her makeup was already starting to run. “I thought you said I was special.”

Only with his super hearing could Clark hear the low Fuck that escaped from his friend.

“Anita!” Bruce said smoothly, completely ignoring the liquid streaming down his face. Already, there was a circle forming around them as people stopped to stare.

The woman wailed even more loudly. “That’s not my name!”

“Annie? Annabelle? Something that starts with an A?“

Clark stepped to the side to watch the drama unfold. And what a show it was, right out of a daytime soap opera. A jilted lover seeking public vindication that she’d been wronged in some hope of winning back the love of the one who wronged them. The backdrop of the hotel ballroom was the perfect touch too if by some chance this woman did manage to convince Bruce to speak with her in private. Perhaps in a hotel room upstairs. Like that was going to happen though. At this point in time, the playboy reputation was just that, a reputation, and had been for some time. Whoever this person was, they were trying to take advantage of that for their own gain.

Bruce and the woman were going around in circles, the woman getting more and more hysterical by the minute. The whole thing ended when she threw her empty glass and then herself at Bruce. A security guard caught hold of her before she could though. It took two of them to drag her away, still wailing and screaming.

“Well, that was entertaining.” Bruce smiled disarmingly at Clark. “I think you got your story now, Iowa.”

“I got something, that’s for sure. Have a good night, Mr. Wayne.”

It was past time to seek out Tim, get his quote, and get out of here.

~*~

Less than an hour later, Clark sat in his hotel room and typed up the story. A shower had gone a long way toward improving his mood, as had the comfortable pillows supporting his back as he wrote. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, which, considering the price tag for the room, it had better be. This kind of place was out of his budget, but wasn’t even a drop in the bucket for the man who was taking a shower of his own in the bathroom.

Bruce.

This was one of those rare nights where their schedules happened to coincide, that there wasn’t some disaster calling him away. The kids were all on patrol tonight, so unless there was an Arkham emergency, here they would stay until morning and life tore them apart once again.

Clark shook off his maudlin thoughts and kept writing. Work first. This was how his bills got paid. Fingers flew over the keyboard of his laptop and he’d proofread the article twice by the time Bruce exited the bathroom, dressed in a bathrobe and his hair still damp.

“Almost done?” he asked as he took a seat on the other side of the large bed, swinging his legs up so that he could lay down.

“Just about.” Clark clicked on send and the article was off to Perry. “Tim was a huge help.”

“He always is.”

Setting the laptop aside, he took off his glasses and turned his attention on Bruce. The man looked exhausted, even more so than usual. “Rough week?”

Bruce rolled onto his side to face Clark. “Rough month. Don’t tell Alfred, but I probably shouldn’t have taken the cast off when I did.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” He laid down and pointedly did not switch over to his x-ray vision to scan Bruce’s leg. It wouldn’t do any good for either of them. “Ready for bed?” he asked instead.

“We haven’t seen each other in person for three months. Do you really think I want to sleep?”

Clark sighed and traced one dark smudge under Bruce’s eye, then the other. They’d been hidden by concealer earlier. “These say otherwise.”

Bruce grabbed his hand and drew it to his mouth, lips ghosting over the large knuckles. “Those are never going away, Clark. Deal with it.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I’m always right. Now get over here and keep me awake.”

“And what if I want you to fall asleep on me?” Clark shifted around until he was pressed flush against the other man. 

It constantly amazed him that he and the oh so proud Batman were at a point in their lives where this was even possible. Twenty years ago, he’d have asked if the person suggesting it was feeling all right and done a quick scan of their brain to check for damage. Ten years ago, he would have wordlessly shrugged it off. Five years… well, time made for all the difference in the world. This was about as close to domestic as the two of them got. It hurt that it couldn’t be more, but with the lives they led, these quiet moments were more precious than gold.

“Shut up and kiss me, Clark.”

Laughing, he did just that.

[herrsuite]

Burlington -> Glens Falls -> HOME!!

The Burlington mural is complete!

We painted in Burlington for the better part of a week. Since we couldn't bring the truck, we had a little camp set up with our paints etc in the storage room of the Battery Street Jeans thrift shop (the yellow door on the left). This whole chunk of buildings had one landlord, who was totally into the project and said we could paint wherever we wanted - we were pretty much only limited by time and what we could reach. We used the fire escape as much as we could! 

All the pictures of any quality here were taken by one of our hosts, Arielle, who's absolutely awesome. If you live in the Burlington area, she is a great event photographer.   

Sarah did ALL the neon lettering. These pictures don't do the glow justice - these have quite a realistic effect in person.

We forgot the fluorescent paint in the truck (we didn't forget many things, but the couple things we did forget were VITAL) (of course) (ugh) so we supplemented with overpriced Montana spray ($9 for a half can???) and some much cheaper hardware fluorescent spray.

The local art store carried some acrylic fluorescent colors, but they were about $100/quart (hahahaha). Also we didn't feel like supporting the jerk-face owner of this store, who decided he needed to tell us about what REAL professional traveling muralists did (inflection included). No thanks. 

We ended up being able to paint 24 people! Out of the 150+ that were submitted, that's not many, and I wish I could have painted 50 more and covered the whole alley. I'll be sharing pictures of the individual ladies on Instagram, in order to feature them each and share a quote from the person who submitted their picture to the project. Example: 

Hurry up and Wait - our return to Glens Falls

So that was that about that! We wrapped up, said goodbye, and jumped back in the car. Kaitlyn and Jenni, our wonderful host in Burlington and her friend hosting us in Glens Falls, did one last round of chauffeuring, handing us off in between the two towns at a little roadside grill. The idea was that we'd leave late on Wednesday, spend one more night in Glens Falls, then pick up the truck first thing in the morning. 

-- BUT OF COURSE, as soon as we were ready to leave Burlington, I get news from the garage that the part has STILL not arrived. But it will be there first thing in the morning! ... We decide to continue as planned. First thing in the morning on Thursday, we hear that the supplier actually hadn't picked up the part like they said, and it would not be at the garage until that afternoon at the very earliest. With 6 hours of labor estimated for the repair, that put us solidly into a Friday departure. We waited nervously, rearranging plans again so that we could stay an additional night. In the afternoon, I checked in again.... and was told they were now expecting it first thing FRIDAY morning. 

I cracked. Wouldn't you? We immediately put our Escape Plan into action and got the HELL outta dodge. One exorbitantly priced rental car and 9 hours of non-stop driving later, we rolled into Richmond at 5AM. Home at last.  

One thing to be said for Glens Falls - each time we got stuck there (first our breakdown, and second our waiting day) we got breakfast and commiserated and put together a plan. Both times, when we went to pay, someone had already paid for our meals without ever talking to us. Hmm. 

What now? 

Well, the tour is technically over, but the project is far from done. Of course, I have to go get the truck once the repairs are finished. 

For the moment, I am hiding out with my family at the beach, recuperating and reflecting. A big part of me would love to just sit back and sink into regular day-to-day stuff, but In the same way that there was MONThs of pre-work that went into this three-week trip, I know there's still work to be done to wrap up in a good way.

Besides, I fully intend to keep the momentum going for the murals and drawings that are the heart of this! I have a few walls waiting for me in Richmond to paint ladies on, and a TON of pictures still to draw. 

Speaking of which, Burlingtonians: I got many many more pictures submitted than it was possible for me to use for this mural.  To anyone who submitted a picture, please keep a lookout on the @girlsgirlsgirlstour Instagram account, because I'm still planning on doing as many drawings as I can from the pictures you submitted and posting them there!

And of course, the big background looming secret purpose of this trip was to do a TEST RUN for a MUCH BIGGER trip in the future....! These three weeks were awesome, all trials and tribulations included, and definitely served as proof to me that a more open-ended 3 month? 6 month? trip would be an EXCELLENT adventure! I got a lot of confidence about making things up as I go, and got a much better feel for what I need to plan for beforehand. Plus, by the time I'm ready to do that trip, I'll probably have replaced so much of the truck that it'll be an entirely new vehicle....

This next trip won't be anytime soon though - I'm in Richmond for the next year, for sure. I've travelled a lot over the last year, and I'm ready to nest a little. Also, one of the main things I learned was to allow myself more planning time, so next fall seems pretty soon already! 

One last huge THANK YOU to everyone who has followed along, supported the tour financially and spiritually and practically, and all of my friends and family who have continual patience for my workaholic lifestyle. 

Worse for Wear, Chesapeake Bank, and Campfire + Co. sponsored this trip, and are all beautiful local businesses. Thank you!

Cut Cut Creative, Lightbox Print Co, and Ali Greenberg Consulting all supported this project with their time and effort and care. Thank you!

We operated under the wing of Studio Two Three, as our fiscal sponsor for this project. Thank you!

[saleggdbdiscount-blog]

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[thrashermaxey]

Capped: Previewing the Trade Deadline for Each Team

  This week we’re going to be reviewing some cap notes for each NHL team before the trade deadline. Skip to your favourite team or peruse them all and be ready for anything come deadline day!

Hopefully this doesn’t get too outdated between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon… Cap info from Cap Friendly. 

  ****

  Anaheim Ducks – Deadline Cap Space: $552,044

A new head coach, and Patrick Eaves being waived is just the tip of the iceberg out on the West Coast. Jakob Silfverberg seems to have an extension all but officially signed which would really put the Ducks in a salary cap bind for next year. Silf’s rumoured deal is five years in length at an AAV of $5+ million. My prediction model has him signing a five-year deal worth closer to $4 million per season. Stay away cap-leaguers.

  Arizona Coyotes – Deadline Cap Space: $29,539,860

Half of their forward core is in need of a new contract for next year. Lots of flexibility here for some bold moves, and we know GM Chayka doesn’t shy away from those.

The Coyotes currently also have almost $23 million on the IR. That includes Dave Bolland, whose contract is somehow still hanging around.

  Boston Bruins – Deadline Cap Space: $18,584,292

What I had written before Wednesday night’s trade: “Without David Pastrnak, either the depth wingers step up, or get replaced by deadline rentals. The Rick Nash trade last year still stings, so the Bruins may be a little more tentative with the big fish this year. I would expect a middle tier forward or two. In the meantime, Jake DeBrusk is looking good on a cheap contract in Pastrnak’s absence.”

Seems like I spoke too soon, and the Bruins found their guy in Charlie Coyle.

  Buffalo Sabres – Deadline Cap Space: $14,935,860

I am very curious as to what Linus Ullmark gets on his next contract. He has been more of a starter than Carter Hutton has the second half of this season. However, a few other goalies in similar situations (Pheonix Copley, Casey DeSmith, & Colin Delia) have gotten three-year contracts with an AAV of about $1 million. If Ullmark gets any more than a $2 million AAV, I would expect 50+ starts next season.

  Not much is expected of the Sabres at the trade deadline.

  Calgary Flames – Deadline Cap Space: $5,766,823

This is quite the interesting goalie situation, made a little bit better by the fact that Arizona is still paying a third of Mike Smith’s salary. The odds Calgary could get Columbus to hold onto half of Bobrovsky’s salary to facilitate a deal is low, so bringing in a real upgrade may not be in the cards this year.

  Carolina Hurricanes – Deadline Cap Space: $76,257,089

It’s safe to say Carolina won’t use up all of their deadline cap space this year. However, getting Jordan Staal back will be a nice boost, and after the Nino Niederreiter trade worked so well, we may yet see a few more good old-fashioned hockey deals from the ‘Canes due to their salary flexibility.

  Chicago Blackhawks – Deadline Cap Space: $21,173,677

It’s amazing the difference a month can make. The Blackhawks of today actually look this they have some solid depth and are getting solid goaltending (Monday’s game against Ottawa not included). This has turned the team back into a possible buyer, as Minnesota is fading out of that eighth playoff spot. Swapping one of Marcus Kruger or Artem Anisimov for an upgrade at forward is likely their current biggest need outside of a healthy Corey Crawford. 

  Colorado Avalanche – Deadline Cap Space: $53,635,090

The top line has gone cold, and they really need some depth scoring. Just like in fantasy hockey, you can’t win anything with only three good players. With half of their roster due new contracts, two first round picks (possibly both in the lottery), and a playoff spot fading faster by the day, don’t expect the Avs to be quiet come deadline day.

  Columbus Blue Jackets – Deadline Cap Space: $28,769,485

Along with Ottawa, they are going to be setting the market with their UFAs. However, Columbus also has a solid team this year, and could really be looking to add instead of subtract come deadline day. A second-pairing left-handed defenceman would slot in very well on this squad.

  Dallas Stars – Deadline Cap Space: $2,717,500

With the big duo of Jaime Benn and Tyler Seguin set to earn a combined almost $20 million next year as Seguin’s extension kicks in, their current second-highest paid player Jason Spezza is really not living up to his price tag. If GM Jim Nill could turn that cap hit into two productive pieces at the deadline, this team would look a lot more like one that could pull an upset in the first round of the playoffs.

  Detroit Red Wings – Deadline Cap Space: $4,238,873

Already with 11 picks in the entry draft the June, that number looks to be even higher after the 25th of February. Players farther down the depth chart such as Michael Rasmussen and Christopher Ehn could see increased offensive opportunities if UFAs Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Vanek are shipped out.

  Edmonton Oilers – Deadline Cap Space: $2,021,276

Jesse Puljujarvi really hasn’t been given a great opportunity to succeed at the NHL level, but this makes it a great time to buy on the young winger. As an RFA, a bridge deal looks likely, with the player wanting to bet on himself, and the future signing team not wanting to commit too much long term. A fourth- or fifth-year breakout from the 20-year-old will make fantasy and real-life owners quite happy.

  Florida Panthers – Deadline Cap Space: $11,635,258

Trading for both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky is looking more and more unlikely, however the Panthers do look to be gearing up to be one of the busiest deadline day teams. Prospects, picks, salary, forwards, defence, and goalies could all be parts of the pieces moving out. Coming in are likely pieces that will make a larger impact next year.

  Los Angeles Kings – Deadline Cap Space: $8,834,870

Everyone thought David Clarkson’s contract was untradeable, but anyone can be moved if you’re creative enough. Since Jake Muzzin was shipped out, things have gone quiet in LA. They don’t have a good team this year, and they don’t have much flexibility with the cap this year or next. With Carl Hagelin the only player on an expiring contract with an AAV of $1 million or more, some players with term are also likely to be shipped out. That could be a bit more of a theme around the league this year, started by the Nick Bjugstad and Muzzin deals.

  Minnesota Wild – Deadline Cap Space: $9,759,932

With a few untimely injuries, the wild are going from buyers to sellers, starting with the exodus of Charlie Coyle. Eric Staal becomes an excellent trade chip, and the young forwards (Luke Kunin, Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Donato and others) may finally be able to find some ice time.

What does E. Staal get on his next contract? Over/Under a $5 million AAV for three years? Have a say in the comments.

  Montreal Canadiens – Deadline Cap Space: $43,017,750

Not many pundits expected Montreal to be sitting in a playoff spot this time of the year. A return to form from Carey Price, along with some solid contributions from the top skaters, has put Montreal solidly in fourth in the Atlantic, battling with Pittsburgh and Carolina for the two Wildcard slots. This dark horse team come playoff time could also be a dark horse for some of the second-tier deadline pieces. A power winger such as Wayne Simmonds, or a centre like E. Staal would go a long way towards lengthening the forward group.

  Nashville Predators – Deadline Cap Space: $29,083,839

With the cap space, and the incentive to make a big splash after last season’s second-round exit, the Predators are a good bet to be one of the bigger buyers on the 25th. Top prospect Eeli Tolvanen could be the main piece going back the other way for a big rental, and he stands to greatly benefit from a change of scenery. With the depth and experience of the Predators forward group, he can’t seem to make it into the lineup with any regularity. Now would be the best time to buy in a dynasty league, before his value jumps with a trade.

  New Jersey Devils – Deadline Cap Space: $64,875,270

Currently with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, the UFAs will be on the trade block, but could we see a bigger move involving someone under contract like Andy Greene, or Sami Vatanen? With such a high number of NHL teams looking for NHL defencemen, don’t count out the possibility.

  New York Islanders – Deadline Cap Space: $47,131,837

Three of their four highest paid forwards are UFAs, as is starting goalie Robin Lehner. This team may see quite a few moving pieces in the summer, but deadline moves may be limited to not rock the ship they have sailing so smoothly right now. Turning UFA Jordan Eberle into a more well-rounded winger may be the best course of action for the Islanders.  

  New York Rangers – Deadline Cap Space: $9,695,641

After the letter to the fan base last year, explaining the intent to rebuild quickly, the Rangers look to be on pace for much of the same this year. They have a few solid young pieces on forward that should be able to flourish alongside Mika Zibanejad to close out this year and starting out next season. UFAs like Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, and Adam McQuaid will likely see their value drop after the trade deadline due to reduced roles.

  Ottawa Senators – Deadline Cap Space: $33,344,094

Sitting Matt Duchene on Tuesday means he’s likely all but gone from Ottawa. There is no chance Ottawa recoups the same quality or quantity as what they gave up to get him. That being said, Ottawa’s exodus of UFAs means some of their under-heralded depth players like Chris Tierney, Zack Smith, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau will get a larger share of the offensive pie. All three have also been solid in multi-category leagues too, and could add a lot of value in those leagues for the stretch run, each earning around $3 million.

  Philadelphia Flyers – Deadline Cap Space: $36,821,062

The Flyers have three goaltenders, one of the more attractive rental chips (Simmonds), some high caliber prospects in the system, and a skilled core already in place. This is not a team looking for a first rounder. New GM Chuck Fletcher should be targeting NHL-ready prospects that can support the core already in place. Getting back someone like Jordan Kyrou in a package would make a lot of sense. With a couple shrewd moves, this is a playoff team next year.

  Pittsburgh Penguins – Deadline Cap Space: $2,295,826

With only Marcus Pettersson and Zach Aston-Reese as largely relevant players in need of new contracts, the core is likely to stay intact long term, barring a playoff miss this season. Since the Penguins are so close to missing, and they lack the deadline cap space to make the easy moves, Jim Rutherford is going to have to get creative to make further additions. However, with Olli Maatta out at least a month, activating him after the playoffs have started could give the Penguins space to add one more impact depth forward.

  San Jose Sharks – Deadline Cap Space: $4,402,997

San Jose’s big fish, Erik Karlsson, is eligible for an eight-year extension after the deadline. There hasn’t been a leak of a deal being done already, however, it will be interesting to see if the extension gets announced soon after.

Another small move or two may be expected, but without any top prospects, and no first rounder, the Sharks may have tied their own hands for deadline day.

  St. Louis Blues – Deadline Cap Space: $5,179,863

The Blues have a lot of prospect capital to play with, and with the massive win-streak they are on, may look to add in order to keep the momentum running. A power winger like Simmonds would fit, as it appears there is no glaring need for help anywhere else on the roster.

  Seattle

How much fun would it be if Seattle could start making trades way ahead of time?

  Tampa Bay Lightning – Deadline Cap Space: $7,938,466

Could the team on pace to tie the all-time wins record in a single season get even better? Tampa has the space, the incentive, and the prospect capital to go after a big fish like Panarin, Ferland, or Stone. With their cap crunch for next year a looming dark cloud, it seems that if the Bolts were to make a deal, it would be for a UFA at season’s end.

Tampa is also only one contract away from the maximum of 50, meaning they may look to move a minor league contract or two out to free up the space. Since their second rounder is now property of the Rangers (becomes a first if they win the Cup) they don’t have the draft picks to make a deal happen without involving prospects anyways.

  Toronto Maple Leafs – Deadline Cap Space: $20,087,502

With Auston Matthews out of the way, signing Mitch Marner and getting some cost certainty there would be a bonus. In the meantime, the Leafs don’t have much cap space to play with, having to leave some extra wiggle room at the top for the boatload of bonuses to be pair out to the aforementioned pair. A top-pair right-handed defenceman is still on the wish-list, but unless Morgan Rielly suddenly switches handedness, it may be more of a pipe dream than a reality.

  Vancouver Canucks – Deadline Cap Space: $39,668,373

In recent days, the Canucks have traded for Ryan Spooner and Marek Mazanek, while signing Michael Leighton. None of those are going to have a big, long-term impact, and they show that Vancouver is treading water, waiting for the development of a few future stars in their system. They are currently just outside the playoff picture, but realistically they aren’t buying. On the flip side, they don’t have much to sell either. It will likely be another quiet deadline out in Western Canada.

  Vegas Golden Knights – Deadline Cap Space: $16,497,033

Alex Tuch has to be one of my favourite young players in the league right now, and he’s signed to a very friendly seven-year deal. Thanks to his emergence, Vegas may not have to go out and overpay for another depth forward like they did with Tatar last season. The biggest thing may be getting a veteran backup to reliably spell starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Brian Elliott could be a fit here. Then again, it is Vegas, and boldness is ingrained in this city. Maybe they decide that a package of Simmonds and Elliott is worth parting with their excess of draft picks again this year.

  Washington Capitals – Deadline Cap Space: $1,101,060

With little cap space to make a move, it will be salary-in, salary-out for the Caps at the deadline this year. It appears as though they see the best way of doing that to be moving out Andre Burakovsky, who hasn’t really gotten a fair shake in the top-six this season. Moving to a new team could see him flourish through the last quarter of the season. A winger like Mats Zuccarello could be a good fit in a swap for Burakovsky, and after waiving Devante Semith-Pelly on Wednesday, the Caps may have just enough space to make it work.   

  Winnipeg Jets – Deadline Cap Space: $25,594,790

I have had Kevin Hayes pegged for the Jets’ second line centre slot since last summer. It still fits the bill, but it sounds as though that may not be the only hole Winnipeg is trying to fill. A bold move to acquire someone like Stone on top of Hayes would really launch them up to being the favourites to come out of the Western Conference.

  ****

That caps off this week’s article, thanks for reading. As always, you can find me on twitter @alexdmaclean.

  ****

Previous Capped articles:

Goaltenders to Target for the Deadline

Buying Cheap on Pulock, Chychrun, Sergachev; Matthews Contract

Future Building Blocks as Trade Targets – Forwards

  ****

All salary info from capfriendy, and all player stats from FrozenTools.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/capped/capped-previewing-the-trade-deadline-for-each-team/

[ixvyupdates]

My Son Won the Lottery and I Want Every Parent to Get That Phone Call

When the call came in two weeks ago, I thought it might be another spammer. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

“Hello, is this Mr. Wright?”

“Yes, this is Lane.”

“Hi. I’m calling from the School of Arts and Sciences at the Centre location. I’m calling to let you know your son has been accepted to our school for this fall. Can you confirm that he will be 5 before the school year begins?”

“Yes! I can.”

As we continued the call, I marveled at how lucky my family was. Arts and Sciences is the best charter school in Tallahassee—at least, according to the state report card. It’s won accolades from Florida’s Department of Education, the Florida Charter School Conference and the U.S. Department of Education. A friend whose kids attend the school loves it there. It has great reviews online and a strong rating from GreatSchools.org.

For years, people have told me how few openings the school has each year and how depressingly low the chances are.

“Everybody applies to the School of Arts and Sciences thinking they’re going to get in,” a friend said. “But I’m realistic. I’m exploring other options.”

I’ve never been a gambler. I don’t buy scratch-and-win tickets here in Florida, but now I know what it feels like to win the lottery.

I’m one of the lucky ones.

Not only will my oldest attend this school, but his two younger sisters will have that chance as well.

But I can’t help empathizing with families that didn’t get in, especially those who really needed a better option, maybe even more than we did.

Good Home, Not-So-Good School Zone

Five years ago, we paid a modest price for our home in a decent neighborhood on the northern edge of Tallahassee’s south side, close to downtown. It’s the kind of place where people take care of their lawns and let azaleas, crape myrtles and a dozen other flowering species bloom in all their pink and white glory. There’s a little park just three doors down featuring a gazebo and a sprawling ancient oak tree as the center point.

But it’s not all “Leave It to Beaver” around here.

Our house also happens to be a three-minute walk from two apartment complexes (one of which is pretty run-down) and streets where the duplexes are so close together that there’s room only for cement pads to park cars—no green lawns, just vehicles packed in even tighter than the houses.

When we bought our home, we focused on what we could afford, how much we liked the well-maintained houses on the block and how close we would be to downtown. We also liked the racial and economic diversity of the neighborhood and hoped our kids wouldn’t be the only Black children at the playground.

We weren’t too focused on the fact that our kids would be zoned for some of the lower-performing schools in the city. We had looked at nicer neighborhoods, but the homes cost more than we felt comfortable paying.

Our oldest was just a baby when we moved in, so we didn’t notice at first that there were almost no families with small children in our immediate area. For the most part, the only people who stayed in this school zone were either those who didn’t have children or those, like us, who didn’t have money to buy somewhere nicer.

Not Much Choice

Florida is considered a leader in school choice. Here in Tallahassee, we’ve got a half-dozen charter schools, magnet and International Baccalaureate programs and an open-enrollment system that gives you the option of attending any traditional public school you’re not zoned for, as long as you can get there and there is space available. For the best schools, though, there typically isn’t.

But if you dig a little deeper, you realize that all the public charter schools serving mostly minorities and students in poverty are struggling just as much as the traditional public schools with the same sorts of kids. The magnet and IB programs seem to reinforce segregation between Black and White, and between the rich and poor students within the same school.

“The IB kids don’t even interact with the general population,” one friend told me.

It all boils down to one uncomfortable fact: Despite all the laws and programs in place to expand options for students and families, there really aren’t as many good choices as you might think—which makes my phone call all the more meaningful.

It also raises a tension in me.

On the one hand, finding a way to not attend our zoned school feels like we’re abandoning the kids who have go to there, but as a father, my first responsibility is to provide the best opportunities for my own children. Sure, taking my Black children away from a mostly Black school doesn’t change the racial dynamics or reduce the diversity of the school, but we’re a solidly middle-class family that can afford to travel out west to visit grandparents every year or two. My kids have two college-educated parents and play community sports. So, leaving does have an impact on the social and economic makeup of the school.

But the solution here isn’t to make those who have options give them up, or to force those who get lucky, like me, to sacrifice their own children on an altar of guilt.

The solution is to have better options, and more of them.

It’s not OK that we have only a handful of high-performing schools in any given district, or that students from the south sides of this country are typically relegated to schools with the fewest resources, the least-effective teachers, and the lowest standards.

Throwing up our hands and blaming poverty is also wrong.

Yes, poverty has an impact, but some urban districts, like Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Hillsborough County, are outperforming other urban districts and seeing significant growth. Some charter school networks like Achievement First, KIPP and Uncommon are getting more kids from low-income families to pass state exams and make it to college where others have failed.

Improving our schools is possible. Helping kids overcome the obstacles of poverty is possible. These are problems we can solve. But if we don’t, I worry our luck will run out. Not just for my kids, but for all of us.

My family is fortunate. We won a lottery with lifelong returns. We got a phone call with hope on the other end of the line. I want every parent to be able to get a phone call like that.

An original version of this post appeared on The 74 as Lane Wright: School Choice Is a Great Thing. Now, Parents Need Better Choices — and More of Them.

Photo by ASHEESH, Twenty20-licensed.

My Son Won the Lottery and I Want Every Parent to Get That Phone Call syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

[touristguidebuzz]

Budget Airlines Lead Fare Wars in the U.S. That Are ‘Painful’ to Legacy Rivals

A price battle between United Airlines and Spirit Airlines is spreading to other U.S. carriers, like Southwest, threatening to derail the industry’s nascent recovery in pricing power. Bloomberg

Skift Take: So much for "price discipline." United may lose money before Spirit loses money but big airlines may be better-situated to deal with the hit. At any rate, the battle is great news for consumers.

— Sean O'Neill

For travelers, it’s been an airfare party this summer with many domestic flights cheaper than a nice bottle of wine. Chicago to Los Angeles can be had for $49, Dallas to San Francisco is just $40, and Denver to Dallas goes for only $25—barely enough for a quality pinot.

Airlines and their investors despise these fares, the result of a fierce pricing skirmish that has bickering carriers behaving like quarrelsome 3-year-olds: It wasn’t me, he started it!

The fare fight reprises a similar battle that erupted two years ago, one that dented industry revenues for more than 18 months. Only this past spring did carriers begin to feel confident that their pricing power was gradually returning.

Now there’s a new war, and no clear end—or winner—in sight.

The renewed conflict pits the industry’s deep-pocketed behemoths, led by United Continental Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc., against a trio of ultra low-cost carriers [ULCC] possessing cost advantages the big guys can’t replicate. Financially, the Big Three “are better positioned now than they’ve ever been,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner for trade journal Airline Weekly. “On the other hand, lowest cost historically has won.”

Fares and shares are dropping while investor anger rises

Two things undergird the fare war of 2017: fuel and money. Jet fuel costs, while rising, remain inexpensive relative to what the industry paid in the past and, equally important, all the major U.S. airlines remain solidly profitable.

Because of these dynamics, neither side has blinked, just as almost every airline has used the fuel reprieve as an opportunity to increase domestic flying.

Fares—and airline stock prices—have shrunk accordingly. United shares have lost 28 percent over the past three months, given the zeal with which the Chicago-based carrier has taken the pricing battle to Spirit, where the share loss has been 41 percent. American and Southwest shares have declined 15 and 13 percent in the same period, respectively, while Delta has lost 10 percent and Allegiant 17 percent.

“At the end of the day, market share battles always get you into trouble,” said George Ferguson, a senior aviation analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. As the fares drop, shareholder anger grows—and that wrath is likely to spur higher fares faster than any future jet fuel spike, Ferguson said.

United President Scott Kirby is, arguably, the primary U.S. fare setter today, given his role as architect of a “price-matching” strategy when he was American’s president. Kirby said Spirit has led the most recent ticket battles, with a 50 percent cut to walk-up fares on July 28, followed by a further cut in the following weeks.

Last month, Evercore ISI analyst Duane Pfennigwerth published a client note titled “It’s Not Business, It’s Strictly Personal” that was both a rant and plea to United’s board to curb Kirby’s price-matching. “We remain very surprised that the new board at United is giving this one, big personality the freedom to … roll the dice on industry discipline,” and start fare wars, Pfennigwerth wrote. “Investors and board should know that none of this had to happen.”

Low costs are certainly a ULCC advantage. In the second quarter, Spirit Airlines Inc. had a cost per seat-mile, excluding fuel, of 5.83 cents, compared with 10.28 cents at United, which has a cost structure comparable to those of American and Delta Air Lines Inc. Privately-held Frontier Airlines Inc., a ULCC modeled on Spirit, was at 5.43 cents as of Dec. 31, the company has said. By the same measure, Allegiant Travel Co.’s cost was 6.42 cents in the second quarter.

The price battle is one “the full-service guys can’t win,” said Ferguson, who predicts that deteriorating profits on many routes will compel directors at United, which has a broader shareholder base than the ULCCs, to demand a change. “United is going to lose money before Spirit loses money,” he said.

A full-service global carrier must “fill a good portion of your jet with someone who’s willing to pay a close-in fare at a big price.”

American executives have defended their price matching because half of the airline’s revenue comes from the 87 percent of people who fly the carrier only once a year. This situation has prompted some of the biggest U.S. airlines to fight for every passenger in each of its hubs.

In years past, airlines often ignored the most price-sensitive customers, choosing to keep the higher fares. In many markets that have little or no competition, that is still their position.

Yet the big hubs—like Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Detroit—are markedly different, and with the incursion of low-cost rivals, the Big Three perceive an existential threat that must be attacked, if not eradicated.

The hubs are where legacy carriers dominate, and in doing so exploit the financial power of their connecting traffic by goosing fares from different markets.

Delta, for example, holds roughly 75 percent market share at its four largest hubs, while American is at 91 percent in Charlotte, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley.

When Spirit or Frontier entered with daily service, according to an analysis of fares in 2014-15 by consulting firm ICF International Inc., fares at eight U.S. legacy hubs dropped an average of 20 percent.

How the Big Three Could Win

The low-cost carriers do have a soft underbelly, though. Spirit and Frontier have labor contracts pending with their pilots and are likely to assume higher costs as part of the new pacts, a process Allegiant completed last summer.

Spirit’s pilots say they earn about 40 percent less than their U.S. peers flying the same Airbus planes and want to narrow that gap with their new contract.

Frontier delayed its plans to go public this summer, likely due to the increased financial pressure expected from the competitive threats. In a securities filing, Denver-based Frontier also specifically warned future investors about sharper competition targeting its part of the low-fare market.

United’s Kirby was particularly blunt in an Aug. 28 interview. Carriers like Spirit, Allegiant, and Frontier “have created a product that no one wants to buy” if the fare is the same on another airline. “I won’t predict what happens, but I think the U.S. ULCC model is not viable when an airline chooses to compete with them,” he said.

Spirit executives counter that such pricing battles won’t end well for the company with higher costs. “Rumors of the death of the ULCC model are clearly overstated,” Spirit Chief Commercial Officer Matt Klein told investors Wednesday at a conference. “People like low fares,” he said, and “low costs are going to deliver those low fares better than anyone else.”

Spirit is profitable both with paltry fares, which drive more people onto its planes, and with higher fares, which cause load factors to drop and ticket yields to rise, executives say.

Because of costs, a base fare of $25 between Denver and Dallas is generally more acute for American and United than for Frontier, Spirit, or Southwest, although none of the carriers sells a majority of their seats on the nonstop flights at that price. (The big carriers also don’t match the lowest fares on every route.)

The counter-argument is that the legacy airlines’ connecting traffic negates the ULCC financial advantage, since American and United may have equally low costs at their hubs. “In our hubs markets, because we can put so many connecting passengers on a plane, our marginal costs for local traffic is really, really low,” Kirby said. “We can absolutely be profitable in all of the markets where we compete in our hubs with anyone. We couldn’t if we sold the whole airplane at $20 a seat.”

Still, the prevalence of low fares is taking a toll financially, with United Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy describing the situation as “painful” and “difficult” in his comments this week even as he reiterated the airline’s commitment to its competitive strategy.

If low fares and weak stock performance persists, said Ferguson, that approach may change: “The more pain that the shareholders feel, they’ll be clamoring for the board to do something about it.”

This article was written by from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

[rollinbrigittenv8]

Budget Airlines Lead Fare Wars in the U.S. That Are ‘Painful’ to Legacy Rivals

A price battle between United Airlines and Spirit Airlines is spreading to other U.S. carriers, like Southwest, threatening to derail the industry’s nascent recovery in pricing power. Bloomberg

Skift Take: So much for "price discipline." United may lose money before Spirit loses money but big airlines may be better-situated to deal with the hit. At any rate, the battle is great news for consumers.

— Sean O'Neill

For travelers, it’s been an airfare party this summer with many domestic flights cheaper than a nice bottle of wine. Chicago to Los Angeles can be had for $49, Dallas to San Francisco is just $40, and Denver to Dallas goes for only $25—barely enough for a quality pinot.

Airlines and their investors despise these fares, the result of a fierce pricing skirmish that has bickering carriers behaving like quarrelsome 3-year-olds: It wasn’t me, he started it!

The fare fight reprises a similar battle that erupted two years ago, one that dented industry revenues for more than 18 months. Only this past spring did carriers begin to feel confident that their pricing power was gradually returning.

Now there’s a new war, and no clear end—or winner—in sight.

The renewed conflict pits the industry’s deep-pocketed behemoths, led by United Continental Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc., against a trio of ultra low-cost carriers [ULCC] possessing cost advantages the big guys can’t replicate. Financially, the Big Three “are better positioned now than they’ve ever been,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner for trade journal Airline Weekly. “On the other hand, lowest cost historically has won.”

Fares and shares are dropping while investor anger rises

Two things undergird the fare war of 2017: fuel and money. Jet fuel costs, while rising, remain inexpensive relative to what the industry paid in the past and, equally important, all the major U.S. airlines remain solidly profitable.

Because of these dynamics, neither side has blinked, just as almost every airline has used the fuel reprieve as an opportunity to increase domestic flying.

Fares—and airline stock prices—have shrunk accordingly. United shares have lost 28 percent over the past three months, given the zeal with which the Chicago-based carrier has taken the pricing battle to Spirit, where the share loss has been 41 percent. American and Southwest shares have declined 15 and 13 percent in the same period, respectively, while Delta has lost 10 percent and Allegiant 17 percent.

“At the end of the day, market share battles always get you into trouble,” said George Ferguson, a senior aviation analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. As the fares drop, shareholder anger grows—and that wrath is likely to spur higher fares faster than any future jet fuel spike, Ferguson said.

United President Scott Kirby is, arguably, the primary U.S. fare setter today, given his role as architect of a “price-matching” strategy when he was American’s president. Kirby said Spirit has led the most recent ticket battles, with a 50 percent cut to walk-up fares on July 28, followed by a further cut in the following weeks.

Last month, Evercore ISI analyst Duane Pfennigwerth published a client note titled “It’s Not Business, It’s Strictly Personal” that was both a rant and plea to United’s board to curb Kirby’s price-matching. “We remain very surprised that the new board at United is giving this one, big personality the freedom to … roll the dice on industry discipline,” and start fare wars, Pfennigwerth wrote. “Investors and board should know that none of this had to happen.”

Low costs are certainly a ULCC advantage. In the second quarter, Spirit Airlines Inc. had a cost per seat-mile, excluding fuel, of 5.83 cents, compared with 10.28 cents at United, which has a cost structure comparable to those of American and Delta Air Lines Inc. Privately-held Frontier Airlines Inc., a ULCC modeled on Spirit, was at 5.43 cents as of Dec. 31, the company has said. By the same measure, Allegiant Travel Co.’s cost was 6.42 cents in the second quarter.

The price battle is one “the full-service guys can’t win,” said Ferguson, who predicts that deteriorating profits on many routes will compel directors at United, which has a broader shareholder base than the ULCCs, to demand a change. “United is going to lose money before Spirit loses money,” he said.

A full-service global carrier must “fill a good portion of your jet with someone who’s willing to pay a close-in fare at a big price.”

American executives have defended their price matching because half of the airline’s revenue comes from the 87 percent of people who fly the carrier only once a year. This situation has prompted some of the biggest U.S. airlines to fight for every passenger in each of its hubs.

In years past, airlines often ignored the most price-sensitive customers, choosing to keep the higher fares. In many markets that have little or no competition, that is still their position.

Yet the big hubs—like Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Detroit—are markedly different, and with the incursion of low-cost rivals, the Big Three perceive an existential threat that must be attacked, if not eradicated.

The hubs are where legacy carriers dominate, and in doing so exploit the financial power of their connecting traffic by goosing fares from different markets.

Delta, for example, holds roughly 75 percent market share at its four largest hubs, while American is at 91 percent in Charlotte, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley.

When Spirit or Frontier entered with daily service, according to an analysis of fares in 2014-15 by consulting firm ICF International Inc., fares at eight U.S. legacy hubs dropped an average of 20 percent.

How the Big Three Could Win

The low-cost carriers do have a soft underbelly, though. Spirit and Frontier have labor contracts pending with their pilots and are likely to assume higher costs as part of the new pacts, a process Allegiant completed last summer.

Spirit’s pilots say they earn about 40 percent less than their U.S. peers flying the same Airbus planes and want to narrow that gap with their new contract.

Frontier delayed its plans to go public this summer, likely due to the increased financial pressure expected from the competitive threats. In a securities filing, Denver-based Frontier also specifically warned future investors about sharper competition targeting its part of the low-fare market.

United’s Kirby was particularly blunt in an Aug. 28 interview. Carriers like Spirit, Allegiant, and Frontier “have created a product that no one wants to buy” if the fare is the same on another airline. “I won’t predict what happens, but I think the U.S. ULCC model is not viable when an airline chooses to compete with them,” he said.

Spirit executives counter that such pricing battles won’t end well for the company with higher costs. “Rumors of the death of the ULCC model are clearly overstated,” Spirit Chief Commercial Officer Matt Klein told investors Wednesday at a conference. “People like low fares,” he said, and “low costs are going to deliver those low fares better than anyone else.”

Spirit is profitable both with paltry fares, which drive more people onto its planes, and with higher fares, which cause load factors to drop and ticket yields to rise, executives say.

Because of costs, a base fare of $25 between Denver and Dallas is generally more acute for American and United than for Frontier, Spirit, or Southwest, although none of the carriers sells a majority of their seats on the nonstop flights at that price. (The big carriers also don’t match the lowest fares on every route.)

The counter-argument is that the legacy airlines’ connecting traffic negates the ULCC financial advantage, since American and United may have equally low costs at their hubs. “In our hubs markets, because we can put so many connecting passengers on a plane, our marginal costs for local traffic is really, really low,” Kirby said. “We can absolutely be profitable in all of the markets where we compete in our hubs with anyone. We couldn’t if we sold the whole airplane at $20 a seat.”

Still, the prevalence of low fares is taking a toll financially, with United Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy describing the situation as “painful” and “difficult” in his comments this week even as he reiterated the airline’s commitment to its competitive strategy.

If low fares and weak stock performance persists, said Ferguson, that approach may change: “The more pain that the shareholders feel, they’ll be clamoring for the board to do something about it.”

This article was written by from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

[deniscollins]

PTA Gift for Someone Else’s Child? A Touchy Subject in California

What would you advise if you were a consultant with the Santa Monica-Malibu school board and the PTA group from Malibu complained that they are tired of the fundraising money they raise be used to support many activities in Santa Monica schools and they don’t think it’s fair anymore: (1) Split the one district into two (one for Santa Monica and one for Malibu), (2) continue to invest the money as needed, or (3) develop some other system to distribute the money raised that favors the PTA group that raised the money? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Of all the inequalities between rich and poor public schools, one of the more glaring divides is PTA fund-raising, which in schools with well-heeled parents can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more.

Several years ago, the Santa Monica-Malibu school board came up with a solution: Pool most donations from across the district and distribute them equally to all the schools.

This has paid big benefits to the needier schools in this wealthy district, like the Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica, where half the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The campus is decorated with psychedelic paintings of civil rights icons such as Cesar Chavez and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the work of the school’s art teacher, Martha Ramirez Oropeza, whose salary is paid by the pooled contributions. That money has also funded the school’s choral program, teacher aides, a science lab and a telescope.

The funding program is considered a national model, and has many enthusiastic supporters. But for some locals it is a sore point that has helped fuel a long-simmering secession movement in which Malibu — more solidly affluent than Santa Monica — would create its own district, allowing it to keep all of its donations in its own schools.

Craig Foster, a school board member from Malibu who favors separation, said parents voluntarily giving money wanted to see the fruits of their donations. 

An ideal PTA system gives a parent “the opportunity to put your money where your heart is,” said Mr. Foster, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. “It has to be an emotional appeal, and it has to be for the benefit of the donor.”

Indeed, the powerful appeal of helping one’s own child has turned the apple-pie PTA into a mirror of society’s larger stratification. According to a new report by the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, schools that serve just one-tenth of 1 percent of American students collect 10 percent of the estimated $425 million that PTAs raise nationwide each year.

And those schools, not surprisingly, are some of the least needy, according to the study, which analyzed PTA tax returns from 2013 and student demographics. The richest PTA in the nation, with $2 million in revenue, was at Highland Park High School in a suburb of Dallas, where no one qualified for free or discounted lunch. (Nationwide, about half of public school students are eligible.)

Only 9 percent qualified at the second-richest, Public School 87 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the PTA’s revenue exceeded $1.5 million. The money was used to pay for dance, yoga, chess, and math and literacy coaching. 

The issue has bedeviled policy makers who abhor the idea of unequal classrooms, but also do not want to discourage families from digging into their pockets. In California, for example, schools may depend on donations because the state’s Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, keeps property taxes relatively low.

Leaders at several overachieving PTAs also said their generosity addressed another kind of inequality: Their schools did not benefit from Title I, the federal taxpayer-funded program for schools that serve large numbers of poor children.

But Catherine Brown, a co-author of the report, said that when richer PTAs paid for teachers and programs that poorer ones could not afford, students in less well-off schools fell even further behind.

“Kids that come from needier backgrounds need more money,” she said. “They have more of a vocabulary gap before they even get to school, and their home environments are not as literacy-rich. They need greater investments in order to achieve their full potential.”

Only a handful of school districts nationwide, including Portland, Ore., and Palo Alto, Calif., have tried to put their fingers on the scale by restricting the use of PTA money at individual schools.

In New York City, PTAs may not pay for teachers of core subjects — English, math, science and history — so that all schools have comparable access to that instruction.

There is no shortage of affluence in Santa Monica or Malibu, two sun-kissed coastal communities with elegant homes and designer boutiques. At this year’s PTA gala for Point Dume Marine Science Elementary in Malibu, 10-person tables cost between $2,000 and $15,000. In an auction, parents could bid on a Las Vegas vacation, private chef services and a pink guitar signed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

But there is poverty, too; of the 11 elementary schools in the 11,000-student district, four in Santa Monica, including Edison, qualify for Title I aid. Half of Edison’s students come from low-income families, and three-quarters are Hispanic. (The school is not affiliated with EdisonLearning, the for-profit education company.)

A telescope or new science lab “would never happen here” without pooled fund-raising, said Edison’s principal, Lori Orum.

“We’re not the community where people are writing $2,000 checks,” she said. “We’re happy if we get $20 out of people.”

The donation-balancing system was put in place in 2011 by the district’s crusading former superintendent, Sandra Lyon, and the elected school board. Malibu parents — and a few from Santa Monica — objected to the change, saying they worried that affluent families would stop giving altogether or flee to private schools. At one rowdy school board meeting covered by Malibu Patch, a local news website, a Malibu mother said the plan would “bring everybody to a mediocre middle ground that serves nobody.” 

Parents can still donate to their own schools to cover expenses like campus beautification, technology and field trips. But those who wish to help pay for teachers’ salaries or school-day science and arts programs must now donate to the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation, which redistributes the money across schools.

Total donations — between $4 million and $5 million annually — did not appear to drop in the first couple of years, according to tax returns for the foundation and 15 school-level PTAs, though more recent records are not available. But just 21 percent of Malibu families have donated to the central fund this school year, compared with 41 percent of Santa Monica families, according to foundation data through February.

Megan Histand, the PTA president at Franklin Elementary in Santa Monica, said that sharing parent donations across schools was “pragmatic,” since all the district’s students feed into two high schools, and that parents should want their children’s classmates to be academically and socially well prepared.

Still, some parents at her school, one of the wealthiest in the district, objected after their PTA gave $200,000 to the central fund when it was falling short of its fund-raising goal last year.

“The idea that a parent is helping another child without helping their own child is a myth,” said Ms. Histand, who has worked in theater production and, in addition to her labor running the PTA, is a stay-at-home parent.

But Mr. Foster, the only Malibu resident on the school board, called the centralized fund-raising system “ideological,” and said it was a poor fit for a district as divided and sprawling as Santa Monica-Malibu, which combines two discontinuous towns with schools up to 23 miles apart. During rush hour, it can take nearly an hour to make the drive up Route 1 between urban Santa Monica and beachy Malibu, and for decades, some Malibu activists have wanted to separate the district into two.

That movement accelerated after the new fund-raising system began. It gained another boost in 2013 when toxic PCBs were discovered in several Malibu schools and parents were dissatisfied with the district’s response. A school board vote on separation will take place this year, potentially followed by a referendum in each community.

Even if not universally beloved, the shared-donation program has become such an integral part of the district’s culture that some advocates of secession say that if Malibu becomes its own district, it should have a centralized donation system to equalize funding across the town’s four schools. They point out that disadvantaged children are in Malibu, too — about 12 percent of the student population qualifies for free or discounted lunch, compared with 30 percent in Santa Monica.

On a recent Friday morning at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, which is perched on a hill overlooking the Pacific, Malibu parents watched their fifth graders put on a ballroom dance performance. The students had studied with a dance teacher from a local college, in a program paid for by the centralized donations distributed by the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation.

The foundation also supports Cabrillo’s art, science and music programs. Several parents said they were grateful for the group’s support. But they think Malibu could pull in even more money if it separated from Santa Monica.

“I wish the kids could get more,” said Karen Clark, treasurer of the Cabrillo PTA — for example, dancing in the third and fourth grades, in addition to fifth grade. “We would do just fine” if Malibu became its own district, she said. “The Malibu community would be very generous.”