A multimillion-dollar push by Charlotte's wealthiest donors to bolster eight schools in northwest Charlotte launches a renewed quest to unite a fractured community behind public education.

On Monday, corporate and foundation donors will unveil Project LIFT, a five-year plan to support talented educators, extend the time kids spend in classes, beef up technology and strengthen family and community involvement in the schools that feed into West Charlotte High.

Project leaders wouldn't disclose numbers last week, but a source said a member of the philanthropy coalition approached him about a five-year, $50 million goal.

It's the latest high-profile bid from a citizens group to rally support for the embattled school district.

As budget cuts force school closings and teacher layoffs in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, frustration, fear and anger are mounting.

Urban neighborhoods say they're bearing the brunt of cuts. Suburban schools, which get less aid to start with, have classrooms bursting with students. Across the county, teachers feel battered.

The makeup of other citizen groups that have announced intentions to help ranges from working-class parents to corporate titans. Many civic leaders are trying to break the barricades of race, class and geography to get people working together.

Before drafting their plan to be announced Monday, the philanthropists who dubbed themselves the CMS Investment Study Group met with more than 650 students, parents, educators, clergy and business leaders in the West Charlotte area.

"At first, the skepticism was, 'OK, corporate Charlotte, philanthropic Charlotte is helicoptering in,'" said Michael Marsicano of Foundation for the Carolinas, which is working with Project LIFT (it stands for Leadership and Investment For Transformation).

Mitzi Porter, president of the West Charlotte High PTSA, says the community appreciated being consulted.

"Everyone there knew they would be part of the process," she said. "That's really the only way it's going to work. (The philanthropy group) had ideas, but they also listened to the ideas of people there."

For decades, West Charlotte High has symbolized Mecklenburg County's highest hopes and biggest challenges in education. In the 1970s and '80s, the school's successful integration was a point of pride. More recently, white flight, rising poverty levels and the academic challenges of minority students have played out on the West Charlotte stage.

Many reforms have come and gone with varying results. Project LIFT leaders say they targeted West Charlotte because of its needs, including a 51 percent graduation rate, but also because the school is making progress.

The project will serve all the children who will eventually move up to West Charlotte, starting with 4-year-olds. Four of CMS' new pre-K-8 schools - Bruns Avenue, Byers, Druid Hills and Thomasboro - will be part of the effort, along with Allenbrook and Statesville Road elementaries and Ranson Middle.

The budget crisis has added urgency to the group's work. In the four months members spent studying issues, the school board voted to close 10 schools, some on the westside, and scale back on teachers to help children of poverty.

But even before that, business leaders worried about a work force crippled by academic failure and high-school dropouts.

"From a banking perspective, it's about our ability to compete in the global economy," said Bank of America's Charles Bowman, a study-group member. "Like any investment, this might not pan out. But I think the potential reward is high."

Many details remain to be worked out. But leaders outlined four goals:

Expanding school time: The project will support longer school days, summer programs and early-childhood education to give disadvantaged children the academic time they need to succeed.

Attracting talent: The group will work with CMS on efforts to recruit and keep the best teachers and principals, and to reward success.

"You have to have talent on steroids in these neighborhoods," said Anna Spangler Nelson, a member of the C.D. Spangler Foundation, co-chair of the study group and a West Charlotte alum. "You have to have driven personalities."

Strengthening support: Helping families support their own children's education and finding mentors for students who need them is vital, leaders say.

Providing technology: This one wasn't on the adults' radar until they began talking to students, says Richard "Stick" Williams, president of the Duke Energy Foundation and the study group's other co-chair.

On Friday, a group of West Charlotte students who advised the study group elaborated.

"Most students here don't have the modern technology that they need to succeed in high school," said Dominique Milling, a junior.

She and Blake Porter, a sophomore, say kids who don't have their own computers fall behind in a high-tech educational world - and with libraries closing and cutting hours, it's harder to find public-use computers.

The rollout

Project LIFT will provide some aid in 2011-12, with the full program beginning in 2012-13. One of the first steps is hiring a project leader who will work for CMS but be paid with private money.

The donors will scrutinize results on test scores, graduation rates, student attendance and other measures. They hope at the end of five years, the gains will be so clear that others will be eager to support the West Charlotte efforts and expand them to other areas.

The study group looked at various models, including the Harlem Children's Zone, which provides "cradle-to-college" support for children in one of New York City's poorest areas. The group liked much of what's going on there, but "that's $70 million a year; we're not in that league," Nelson said.

One of the looming questions is how far private aid can go toward plugging gaps in public money. CMS' budget tops $1 billion; leaders are currently planning for $100 million in cuts for the coming year.

Superintendent Peter Gorman says he welcomes private donations for such things as middle-school sports and Bright Beginnings prekindergarten, both of which face cuts. But foundation leaders, including some involved with Project LIFT, say taking over government programs isn't a wise approach.

Instead, many of the latest "help CMS" efforts include lobbying for public money and policy changes. For example:

-- Project LIFT includes plans to ask legislators to give CMS more flexibility on spending and other educational decisions.

-- Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education and the Charlotte Chamber are working to get the word out about CMS' budget needs and who provides the money.

-- "Power of One," a Mecklenburg Ministries program debuting Tuesday, aims to let regular people know they can make a difference through public advocacy, as well as giving their time and money to schools.

For all the talk about money and data, the people leading Project LIFT know how personal these issues are.

Nelson is a 1980 graduate of West Charlotte High; her family was a leader in integrating the formerly all-black school. Williams and Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown, a physician on the study group, are African-Americans who grew up in poverty and thrived through education.

The teens at West Charlotte High say they're watching with a mix of hope and wariness. They don't want anything that smacks of pity or serves to highlight their school's shortcomings. They've seen a lot of efforts to "fix" their school come and go.

"You can't come here one day and motivate students and leave them hanging," said JacQuan Stover, a senior. "You have to watch us grow."