A group opposing the Wake County school bonds referendum has repeatedly described itself as a "broad coalition" of grass-roots supporters of education reform.

But campaign finance reports paint a different picture.

According to the reports, filed this week, Wake Citizens for Quality Education has received donations from just two organizations and eight individuals -- only two of whom are named.

Most of the money is from Americans for Prosperity, a national advocacy group that supports limited government. The group gave $17,500 to Wake Citizens for Quality Education in October, reports show.

Earlier in the month, the Wake County Taxpayers Association, a local organization that opposes higher taxes, donated $5,000 in cash and $634 worth of anti-bonds signs.

When asked about the finances during a taping of WRAL's public-events program "Headline Saturday," Americans for Prosperity state director Fran DeLuca said the Wake Citizens group has drawn many more donors who did not want their names to be public.

"People are afraid," he said. "They don't want to be tarred as anti-education."

DeLuca said dozens have given money to Americans for Prosperity for the group to pass on to the anti-bonds committee, so that their names would not show up on campaign finance reports.

Few are listed in the filings.

DeLuca donated $125 in late September, and retired Cary businessman Michael Dodson gave $200 in mid-October. Six other people made $5, $10 and $25 donations -- far below the state threshold that requires identifying contributors.

Dodson said he wanted to recognize the group's efforts.

"I don't agree with everything they say, but at least they are looking out for the parents and taxpayers of Wake County," he said.

Americans for Prosperity's North Carolina chapter also set up a political committee to oppose the school bonds. Campaign finance reports show that the AFPNC Committee has received all its money from the national group.

According to the reports, Americans for Prosperity's national headquarters gave the committee $27,500 and paid for $6,831 worth of anti-bonds newspaper ads.

DeLuca said the national group's donations were no different from the Cary and Raleigh chambers of commerce donations to the pro-bonds Friends of Wake County.

"All of our donations are from private individuals," he said. "None of it is from tax dollars, unlike the people who are supporting Friends of Wake."

Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, said its $40,000 donation to Friends of Wake came from a special account set up for money raised from local businesses and did not include any tax money.

"We're headquartered right here," he said. "We're not a Washington, D.C.-based organization that is trying to influence a local election."

John R. Wallace, a Raleigh lawyer who has studied campaign financing, said that state and federal laws and court decisions give advocacy groups such as Americans for Prosperity wide latitude when donating to referendum committees.

He said that can be a problem for curious voters.

"If citizens in Wake are interested in who is contributing to the opposition to the school bonds, then they will be frustrated because there is no immediate source of that information," he said.

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