Michelle Obama surprised the staff and children of Randle Highlands Elementary School in D.C. by bringing them a box filled with $100,000 cash to buy whatever they need for the schools.
Valerie Strauss wondered why the school is unde-resourced, why teachers have to dig into their own pockets, when the city has a large surplus.
What about the schools where Ellen doesn’t send a gift of $100,000?
It really is a wonderful gesture, but public schools should not have to depend on charity to meet their basic needs.
Watch the video if you can. It really is heartwarming, and almost makes you forget that the city is failing to fund its schools.
Strauss writes:
For one thing, Obama is, according to some polls, the most admired woman in the world. Having her show up at your school is a treat by itself. What’s more, the school can certainly use the money.
All of the mostly African American students at Randle Highlands Elementary School in Southeast Washington come from economically disadvantaged homes, according to D.C. Public Schools’ website, and Principal Kristie Edwards said in the video that many of the children are homeless or in the foster care system. Edwards says in the video that her school is in one of the “roughest” areas of the city, but that her students know they can expect “love and a hug” when they come to school — and that they will be safe.
As the box was opened, Obama said, “Ellen is giving you guys $100,000 to help you cover whatever business that you have for the schools, whether it is for the food pantry or whether it’s computer programs. We hope this will make sure that you will not have to go into your pockets any longer for these kids because we know how amazing you guys are.”
So what’s wrong with this picture?
“I had so much fun putting a smile on all of these little faces from Randle Highlands Elementary School in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the @TheEllenShow for letting me be a part of #EllensGreatestNight!”
The problem certainly is not a visit from a former first lady or an entertainer trying to help a school.
Rather, the problems are:
- The funding system in U.S. public education leaves the poorest schools with the fewest resources
- School system budgets do not provide most teachers with all the supplies they need to do their jobs — and this has been baked into the process for many years.
- The D.C. government has had multimillion-dollar budget surpluses the past few years, and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is in charge of the school system. Why are there campuses that don’t have all of the supplies they need?
In her comments at Randle, Obama said she and DeGeneres hoped the $100,000 would “make sure that you will not have to go into your pockets any longer.” The reference reflected the fact that at least 94 percent of teachers nationally, according to the latest federal data, spend an average of nearly $500 of their own money on supplies, often for basics such as paper and pencils, tissue and furniture.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“…at least 94 percent of teachers nationally, according to the latest federal data, spend an average of nearly $500 of their own money on supplies, often for basics such as paper and pencils, tissue and furniture.”
I used to spend a thousand dollars each year to buy things that would make my teaching easier. I didn’t live decently but knew I needed materials to be able to teach and the districts didn’t provide much more than music books.
This is a very kind gesture, but too many schools aren’t getting decent funding and many of them are in Indiana.
Thank you Valerie Strauss….these are feel-good gestures from the wealthy who bring publicity to themselves, but not to the policies that systematically under-fund schools.
Good point. Who benefits most from the gesture?
It’s nauseating!!!!!!
It does not even come close to making up for the damage Michelle’s husband did to schools Nationwide, particularly in inner cities like Chicago, where Obama’s former chief of Staff (Rahm Emanuel ) closed dozens of neighborhood schools.
The Common Core, testing on steroids and VAM imposed by Obama cost school districts billions and deprived them of arts, music and other programs and resources.
The Obama’s should just go away and retire to their multi-million dollar estate, but for some reason they think people still want to hear from them. They have stupid ideas.
No, SDP.
They are know very rich, so they know best and better.
While I appreciate the gesture, the bigger question is why are politicians refusing to fund public schools? We know that too many politicians are in the pocket of the charter lobby and disruption meisters. Any politicians that refuse to fund public schools should be voted out of office. Their job is to serve the people, not the 1%. Students and teachers should not lack the basic tools they need in order to serve a political agenda.
It is truly bizarre that billionaires take credit for making donations to schools with needy kids instead of demanding higher taxes to reduce poverty and fund schools equitably.
Not bizarre at all.
Billionaires want everyone to believe that they are God’s gift to humanity at the same time they increase their already grotesque wealth through exploitation of workers (Jeff Bezos), monopolistic practices (Gates, Bezos, Page, Zuckerberg, et Al) and tax avoidance strategies.
The last thing they want is an increase in taxes — although a few like Buffet and Gates claim they want the latter, it’s easy to say that with someone like Trump in office. When it looks like a Sanders or Warren might actually have a chance at being elected, people like Gates suddenly change their tune.
They are all very dishonest and why anyone would believe a wordord ANY of them says is the only real mystery.
Buffet may be the most fake of the lot. He certainly did not become a billionaire by being mister nice guy, though he likes to play the part.
I don’t understand. Why did they give money to a school instead of a bank? I feel heartfelt sorrow for the big Wall Street banks Michelle Obama’s husband bailed out during the financial crisis the banks caused. Corporations obviously need more money; they’re on welfare. It’s a tragedy that hundred grand didn’t go to a fossil fuel corporation to fund fracking, or maybe to a contractor that made some of the military drones Obama used to kill children in other countries. Charter school chains and the testing industry need money too, as do the big tech companies so they can surveil and control us all. What a waste of a tiny pittance of money. Well, that’s philanthropy for you — freedom of choice for the wealthy.
“It really is a wonderful gesture….”
Well, no, it isn’t. Michelle’s married to the man (and Ellen unswervingly supported the man) who had eight years to make things better for the children at that school in so many ways – jobs, financial stability, healthcare, paid parental leave, etc., not to mention the obvious equitably funded schools, and instead he chose to spend money bailing out banks and destroying countries like Libya and Honduras while pleading that his hands were tied by the Republicans when it came to actually doing anything for the American people. What little he gave to education went to charters, ed tech, testing and consultants. How anyone still welcomes the Obamas (or the Bushes or the Clintons or the Reagans or, yes, the Trumps) without pitchforks is beyond me.
Incidentally, $100,000 to either the Obamas or Ellen is about like me walking into a school and handing over five bucks. Also incidentally, that’s not even two teacher salaries. If you include benefits, it’s barely one salary.
The Obamas are DISGUSTING . . . . . . and hideous.
The Obamas just purchased an “11.75 million, 7 bedroom estate on 29.3 waterfront acres” in Martha’s Vineyard. (Town & Country)
Yes, Dienne, to the $5 analogy. & agree, Robert, especially because the legacy of the Obama Admin. education policies should forever haunt them: while their children had more than every advantage in the world & then some, Arne Duncan & then John King (which would have been an opportunity for POTUS to right some RTTT wrongs) stabbed public education in the heart. What was done to public education during those 8 years was worse than anything George W. had done during his term.
Even worse than that, we had all celebrated the 2008 election, because we believed NCLB was over & done.
“What fools these mortals be…”
Jane Lynch tweeted her support for Pete Buttigieg. Her cluelessness as a rich person didn’t go well.
Ellen identifies with her class who own boxes at national sports arenas.
I recall one of the first photo ops of Michelle Obama, as First Lady. The event recorded was her visit to European royalty while the U.S. was in the depths of the recession.