Portland teachers turn to crowdfunding for classroom materials

PORTLAND — Tight budgets often mean teachers turn to alternative sources to get the educational materials their students need.

With crowdfunding websites showing they work well for all sorts of efforts, teachers in the Portland schools have increasingly been turning to an organization called Donors Choose to supplement their classroom offerings.

In the past eight years Sylvie Montello, partnership developer at Lyseth Elementary School, said various teachers in the district have received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of support from Donors Choose.

“This site has been a blessing for teachers since school budgets are so tight,” Montello said. “They are able to request and get materials that make a positive impact on their students” and they likely wouldn’t be able to access otherwise.

Read more: http://www.theforecaster.net/portland-teachers-turn-to-crowdfunding-for-classroom-materials/