It Took a School to Build a Village School
After nine months of fund-raising, high school students from the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics traveled halfway around the world to a small village in Mali, in West Africa, in July to help...
View ArticleLet's Talk About the Money
WNYC's Beth Fertig talked today about schools and money on "The Brian Lehrer Show." Schools are making do with less, and some parents are trying to fill the gaps. How much do you give to your child's...
View ArticleWalcott Names New Chief Fund-Raiser for Schools
The nonprofit corporation that collects charitable donations for the city's public schools will be led by a new director, Julia Bator, according to statement from Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott on...
View ArticleThe Bake Sale Conundrum
To bake or to buy? That is the question many mothers — and fathers — debate with themselves when they are asked to contribute something to their child's school fund-raising bake sale. At Room for...
View ArticlePay to the Order of Public School X ...
At Public School 6 Lillie D. Blake on the Upper East Side, the parents association posted an urgent and direct call for donations on the school's Web site. "For the first time in years, the PTA is 'in...
View ArticleWhy Some Parents Resent the Success Charter Schools
The controversy in Brooklyn over the impending arrival of Success Academy charter schools made it onto the Op-Ed page of The New York Times this weekend, when Lucinda Rosenfeld explained just what is...
View ArticleConflicts Arise When Parents Are Asked to Close School Money Gap
Following years of budget cuts to education, New York City families are being asked to contribute more money to public schools. Kyle Spencer, a freelance education reporter and New York Times...
View ArticleShrinking School Budgets Have Parents Filling the Gaps
WNYC's Beth FertigNo surprise: kids are expensive. But in an age of multibillion-dollar school budgets, why does sending a child to public school cost so much?Parents who are responding to a SchoolBook...
View ArticlePrivate School Parents Targeted for Giving
Parents of public school students in the city are responding to a SchoolBook survey by reporting expenses of up to thousands of dollars to support their child's school or school-related activities. But...
View ArticleParents Dig Deeper to Relieve Tight Public School Budgets
How much is your child's public school education costing you? We asked that question of New York City parents in March, and it seems that SchoolBook hit a sore spot.Close to 400 readers answered our...
View ArticleSome PTAs Are Raising $1 Million or More
At a time of severe education budget cuts, some schools in New York City have thrived, thanks to the hard work of PTAs that are raising in the neighborhood of $1 million a year. As Kyle Spencer wrote...
View ArticlePublic School Parents Resent, and Worry About, Pervasive Fund-Raising
What ever happened to public school being free? Earlier this spring, when SchoolBook asked public school parents to tell us what they spent on their children’s education, we were inundated with...
View ArticleA Complex Budget Picture Feeds Reliance on Parent Donations
The budgets for each public school that arrive each spring, dictating the degree of austerity for the following academic year, are almost never seen by parents. They are not pretty, most principals...
View ArticleAt the Horace Mann School, Tales of Power and Abuse
The New York Times Magazine article about The Horace Mann School has drawn hundreds of comments from readers moved by its description of sexual abuse that took place there during the '70s and '80s. It...
View ArticleAt Two City Schools, Parents' Money Leads to Two Very Different Experiences
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school. Earlier this spring, SchoolBook asked...
View ArticleA Parent Warns: A Focus on Fund-Raising Lets the Government Off the Hook
Out of the 1,700 or so schools in the New York City public school system, there are now a handful with PTA budgets that have reached or are bulging toward the $1 million mark. To put that $1 million...
View ArticleA Garden? Chess? PTAs Face Choices About How to Spend Parent Money
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school. Earlier this spring, SchoolBook asked...
View ArticleFund-Raising Fairness Is Being Tested in Oregon, With Mixed Results
If Pam Joyner, a school principal in Portand, Ore., didn't have an extra pot of money from a districtwide foundation, she is not sure how her school would get by, she said.Ms. Joyner presides over Lane...
View ArticleWalcott: Don't Penalize Parents Who Raise Money for Their Schools
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school. Earlier this spring, SchoolBook asked...
View ArticleFor City Parents, Frustration Over Rising Cost of Public School
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school. Earlier this spring, SchoolBook asked...
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