‘You cannot crowdsource a quality education’: Philadelphia Student Union

Mayor Michael Nutter announced Wednesday the launch of a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for school supplies for the cash-strapped School District of Philadelphia. The city, which will contribute $200,00 this year and $1 million over the next five years, hopes to raise $500,000 by Oct. 15 and $2.5 million over five years, Nutter said.

Donate to the fund here.

But the campaign falls flat for the Philadelphia Student Union, a youth-led organizing group based in West Philadelphia.

“You cannot crowdsource a quality education for the students of Philadelphia,” the organization wrote in a recent blog post. “More importantly, you cannot crowdsource teachers and counselors.”

It’s “shameful,” the Philadelphia Student Union said, to ask Philadelphians, “who have already given up so much,” to fund public education. That’s the responsibility of local and state government, it said. Meanwhile, both local and state legislators continue talks about how to fund the schools.

Read the whole blog post here.

Read more about the school supply fund on The Notebook and The Inquirer.