School fundraisers are great events. They build buy in for the school, literally. It helps create pride for the school. It creates passionate ownership.
And usually, they are a great time for the students.
And yet, if it is quality public education equal to all, why do we have fundraising to make ends meet?
At a walkathon, a fundraiser for the school in Chicago’s West Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, is one system.
Three times around the school equals a mile, and for each mile students earn money for their school. So far, the kindergarten class is in the lead, pulling in $1,000 in the last hour.
“We are up to $17,000, which is more than we did last year,” says Theisha Perkins-Obafemi, parent of bubbly second grader Grace.
The state says CPS only has 68% of what it needs in state and local dollars to properly fund its schools.
To make up the difference schools are increasingly turning to private money. But they don’t all have the same fundraising might. The majority of outside money is collected and spent by a small number of schools where less than half the students are low-income, WBEZ found in an analysis of private fundraising expenditures at district-run schools. These schools are primarily on the North Side in affluent neighborhoods. And the amount they’ve raised has skyrocketed over the last decade.
In other words, CPS is aware that they only fund 68% of needed funds, but instead of turning to the federal, state, or city for those funds, CPS would rather stick it on you and your charity, on top of what you already pay for taxes. #thataintright
It’s not public education that’s broken.
It’s the system running it.
This is even than quality laptops for students.
Some of CPS buildings are falling apart.
But instead of showing that the students are priorities of the city, instead of showing hope through funding equity, the students are told that the few members of their neighborhood are the only ones who care of them.
#thataintright
Our students deserve more than 68%.
All do.
And there are many who cannot raise the other 33%.
#thataintright