School Funding - A Creative Approach

By Laura Hillyer Hensley

At a time when State and Federal funding of school is at a low, many teachers are trying to find creative ways to fund extras for their students. The parents are already facing higher local and federal taxing and a struggling job market so teachers can’t keep asking them for financial help. Local communities and businesses are getting hit for more donations and from so many groups that they are pretty much tapped out too. Teachers have been known to go into their own paychecks to get the things they want for their classrooms and their students but a teachers salary isn’t that big either. Four teachers from Steger are working on a creative way to bring additional funds into their school for their students and they really could use the communities help. They don’t need you to leave your house and they do not need you to reach into your wallet. If a teacher said you could bring anywhere from $2500 to $10,000 into the school to help the kids and all it would take is a couple minutes of your time and either your phone or your computer, would you help?

Michelle (Hensley) Perry, Adam Schoff, Gina Anaclerio and Frosini Smith are the four teachers asking you to take to your phones and computers to help them win grant money for their school and their students. These four educators are from Columbia Central Jr. High in Steger. They have each entered the Thank America’s Teachers grant contest put on by the Farmers Insurance Companies. Each of these teachers can win a grant for $2500 for their school and together, if they all win, they can bring $10,000 in grant money to Columbia Central Jr. High. “ We can raise funds for our amazing students without asking anyone to buy anything or to give us their own money. All we need them to do is vote. But we need them to vote - a lot” says Michelle (Hensley) Perry, a math teacher at Columbia Central.

These four teachers have until Oct. 30^th to collect all the online votes they can. Then Farmers Insurance will announce the winners. While all four teachers are very hopeful that they can bring the much needed funding to their school, they all realize its going to take a community to make it happen. Family, friends, co-workers and neighbors are being asked to help them. “Our kids are amazing and they count on us to teach them but they also look to us to help them when we can and I don’t want to let them down” Michelle stated.

To help these four teachers win the grants they are after all you need to do is visit the Thank America’s Teachers ( https://www.farmers.com/thank-americas-teachers/ ) click on Vote Now, click Vote under the $2500 proposal, type Steger in the city and hit search. The four teachers names will appear. Vote for each teacher. You will then receive an email to confirm you are a actual person. Click the confirm button and that is it. Everyone can vote each day and you can vote from any email address.

These teachers are trying a different approach to funding projects for their students without costing their community anything. They are hoping for the best and hoping to bring all four grants back to their students.