You, Stephen Colbert, and St. Paul Public Schools

Today is #BestSchoolDay on donorschoose.org, and Stephen Colbert is leading dozens of celebrities in funding teacher requests for books and materials their classrooms need. Students in Mrs. Hall’s classroom at Como Park Elementary School need A-D leveled guided reading books for small-group instruction. Her students come from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds, and many speak English as a second language. You can click here to help buy books for Mrs. Hall’s students.  

Or you can look at all the teacher requests from St. Paul, or from any other city. Bridgeview School serves St. Paul students with significant cognitive developmental disabilities: Mrs. Nelson’s students need Upstream Arts to visit the school to “increase and improve communication as well as social interactions through the power of art integration.” Mrs. Thomas-Hilgert’s students at Battle Creek Environmental Magnet School need dice, counters and ten-frame builders “to make math come alive!” Ms. Bauer’s students at Higher Ground Academy also need math activity materials.

Colbert has been donating to schools through donorschoose.org since at least 2007, when he asked supporters of his 2007 presidential campaign to donate to support schools, rather than to the campaign. He has served on the organization’s board since 2009. This year, he appeared on the CBS Morning Show to promote #BestSchoolDay:

“Fifty-eight celebrities, athletes, business executives and more have joined in the cause, committing over $14 million to flash fund over 11,000 projects in communities spanning 47 states and D.C.

“‘The reason they’re doing it and the reason I did it is that I know the real heroes are the teachers who are too often themselves spending their own money for these projects,’ Colbert said. ‘And every dollar you give goes exactly to that project and you hear back from those kids.'”

Donate now to support a classroom, and you’ll double the impact: Google co-founder Sergey Brin and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton are matching donations up to $3.2 million, beginning today, #BestSchoolDay, March 10.

Yes — schools SHOULD be publicly funded, and SHOULD get enough funding to support learning so that teachers don’t have to beg or spend their own money on classroom supplies. But that’s not the world we live in right now. So today I’m supporting Mrs. Hall’s classroom, and I urge you to go to donorschoose.org and pick a classroom to support.

(And if you do support a school, I’d love to hear about it – just post a comment and tell me!)