I believe many more parents would donate to their public school's PTO if they felt their money was benefit specific classrooms, teachers or programs within the school. However, I also "get" that in a public school environment you can't simply load up all the money for the rich kids' class. So let's do what Oregan and others have tried - allow 50% to be directed VERY specifically (to the teacher/classroom level) and the other 50% goes into a district fund to be allocated by the bureaucrats who know where the larger need is.

The 50% that goes exactly where the parent wants it will be a huge incentive for attracting new donations to PTO causes, because parents want to help their own kids. My hunch is it would 4x to 10x contributions.

Boulder is, fundamentally, a rich community. Let's use a little private incentive to proverbially shake coins loose to the benefit of the entire system.