♥ Jess

So as you guys know, I’m participating in Handmade with Purpose this month. Well the month is coming to a close and I’m really sad to say that I’m no where near what I usually make in any given month.

So, as incentive, I’m going to offer 15% off in my shop. And that 15% that you get to keep? That’s the 15% I’ll donate to donorschoose.org. Use the coupon code HWP2011 for 15% off in my shop.

In case you are unaware, donorschoose.org is a non-profit that allows teachers to request funding for specific projects. Donors can pick a specific project to fund and fund as little or as much of it as they want. As a former teacher and a future teacher, this is a charity that is close to my heart.

I live in Florida, and in Florida, we don’t value education. We say that we do, but we do not. We rank 50th in the nation for funding per student. This is disgusting. We have a new governor that is cutting education even further. In my district, our students already only get PE every 7th school day. They only get art, music, and library skills every 7th school day. Teachers get very little money to fund their classrooms and often have very outdated equipment. One teacher I worked with was still using a record player and records in 2007. In the school I did my student teaching in, we RAN OUT OF PAPER in March. For three months, teachers could make no copies unless they brought in their own paper from home. For two months before that, they could only make copies on colored paper because that’s all that was left.

This upcoming school year, with the budget in place that our new governor has approved, my district is going to be even more lacking in funding. There’s talks of cutting all high school sports. We might go to a four day school week. They’ve cut all they can from academics. The national average teacher’s salary is $14k more than what first year teachers earn in my district.

And yet, despite this, we boast some of the best public high schools in the country. We’re making great strides in raising our graduation rates in the inner city schools. Can you imagine how awesome our schools could be if they were actually FUNDED? If the teachers actually had the supplies they need to teach? This SHOULD piss you off.

I’ve chosen to donate to donorschoose.org and I’ve chosen a local project to help fund. You can read about the project I’ve chosen here.

You save 15% using the code HWP2011 and I’ll donate that 15% you saved to fund that project. I challenge you to take that 15% you saved and donate it yourself, doubling the funding we’re providing to this classroom. Hell, don’t even bother buying from me and pick your own project to donate to. Education in this country is always in the conversation, but never in the budget. And yet, we complain when our crime rates are up, our housing values are down, and our kids are stupid. Why aren’t more people pissed off about this? Why is education always one of the first things we cut?