Help me help some kids

I'm going to take a minute for some cross promotion.

Have you been to Donors Choose? Donorschoose.org is a website where teachers post items they need for projects in their classes. They post anything from construction paper to overhead projectors to dead frogs. You can go on the website and browse the projects and select one you like, then donate any amount of money to help make it happen. In return you get a thank you package from the kids and the knowledge that you will help further their education.

I can vouch for this program as reliable. They took like a week to analyze my proposal to make sure it was legitimate and that I am legitimate. And if a teacher gets the money and doesn't send back the thank you package they are never allowed to ask for money again.

I put a project up last week: Learn to Use a Real Camera. A soon as it gets approved there will be a photo on the proposal but it's not up there yet. I got tired of asking and asking for equipment to make the yearbook so I asked society for what my school won't provide. My kids are using a Gateway camera. Yes, Gateway makes cameras and they're every bit as crappy as you would imagine. But it's all we have. So I've asked for a sports camera - not even a great one but one that will do for now.

I'm not asking you to donate to my project necessarily, but I would love it if you donated to something. Teachers get great ideas all the time for some really cool learning experiences but money often prevents us from making them a reality. You may not consider yearbook and important class, but maybe you loved science in school, or art or history or any one of the subjects represented on that site. And if you don't have the money to donate, tell people who do.

In California this year the governor plans to cut billions of dollars from our education budget because people don't want to give up any more money to teach the future leaders of our country. The first programs to go will be the arts. Then our classes will get bigger. Then one by one anything that's not strict classroom instruction will fall by the wayside.

I'm not trying to sound like Sally Struthers over here - but you know how sometimes I post essays my kids write and you guys go JESUS CHRIST how stupid are our children?!

You remember that? Yeah, well here's what you can do to help. Pick a project. Help make a kid smarter.