It never hurts to ask.

“I am a first-grade teacher at a new school in South Carolina. Funds have been dispersed this year for emergency items, not leaving much funding for items that are needed to teach the core curriculum. I would like to implement a music and creative arts program for my classroom.”

“I am a Spanish and drama teacher teaching at an integrated arts elementary school. This is my first year at the school, and I have been given the challenge of creating and teaching an arts-infused Spanish curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade. The age span and ability levels of my students require me to use a variety of materials and methods. However, because this is a new and unexpected program, I have only been allotted the amount of $200 for purchasing materials and supplies to teach all 564 students. I am in desperate need of materials to support the following creative teaching strategies.”

“I teach a Profoundly Mentally Disabled class at James B. Edwards Elementary School. There are six students in my class ages 6 to 14. My students are severely mentally disabled. Of my students, three use wheelchairs as their source of mobility. Their diagnoses include autism, cerebral palsy, general developmental delays, among other disabilities. I have been involved in the past with Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding Inc. and feel that my students greatly benefit from their services.”

These requests are three of the 258 programs teachers in South Carolina are proposing.

The problem is a lack of funding. The solution is DonorsChoose, which allows potential donors to give to a specific project.

Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum launched the DonorsChoose Web site (www.donorschoose.org) statewide on Oct. 10 in Columbia.

“We’re thrilled to have the support of the governor’s office, Superintendent Tenenbaum, our corporate sponsors and our state educators for this extraordinary program,” said Missy Sherburne, DonorsChoose executive director for the Carolinas. “We believe that with their help, and that of other South Carolinians, we can make positive changes in the state’s public schools.”

DonorsChoose began in New York in 2000. It has expanded to Chicago, Los Angeles, North Carolina, the San Francisco Bay area and now, South Carolina. To date, residents of 50 states have funded 8,550 student projects. About 85% of these resources are reusable in future classrooms.

The Web site allows potential donors to search by region, subject area, project cost or grade level. In South Carolina, more than 280 teachers have submitted proposals, which, if funded, could impact as many as 670,000 students in 1,100 schools.

Here is how it works: South Carolina public schools teachers may go online and submit a project proposal.

The proposals are reviewed by trained staff, who then load the proposals onto the site. Once money is donated to a project, DonorsChoose then purchases the supplies and ships them directly to the classroom.

Every penny donated goes to a public school classroom. Administrative costs, however, are covered by sponsor donations, the company said.

In support of this new funding resource for local public school teachers, the Coastal Community Foundation has committed its 2005-2006 Teacher Mini-Grant awards to projects submitted online at DonorsChoose. 

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