As the fallout continues from the incompetence of the Oklahoma legislature, next school year is starting to come into focus, and trust me, it isn’t pretty. The budget cuts to education are going to be very costly to students and to the teachers who remain in the profession, or are able to keep their jobs.

With 10 years at my school, I’m pretty safe. But we’re looking at much larger class sizes and an emphasis on saving money anywhere we can, which will undoubtedly include paper rationing. This means I will no longer be able to copy the binder of notes I give to my Advanced Placement English students. This is a binder I’ve built over years of teaching that includes many, many pages of vocabulary, test strategies, a reading list, a practice test, etc.

I’m having to look for alternatives to get this test prep information into my students’ hands. And so, I’ve turned to the public to ask for help. I currently have two fundraisers going.

The first one I set up through DonorsChoose.org, a leader in helping teachers get what they need. This one asks for 40 copies of the latest Barron’s AP English Literature and Composition test prep workbook. This is the 12th grade AP English class. With expected class sizes of 35, I went with 40 in case of loss or damage.

The second fundraiser is through GoFundMe.com. The purpose this time is to pay for 40 copies of Barron’s AP English Language and Composition test prep workbooks. This is the 11th grade AP English class. Again, class sizes are estimated at 35, which is actually the across-the-board number for all classes.

I’ll have kids answer the workbook questions on notebook paper, so these books should actually last for several years.

Why different forums for the fundraising? DonorsChoose is a trusted source where the administrators of the site purchase the specified products and send them to the school. In other words, I never actually touch the money. However, the $387 cost of the workbooks becomes a goal of $529 when you add in the administrative fees. When I saw that, I decided to set up the other through GoFundMe and hope that people trust I’ll buy the workbooks. Believe me, it’s much more important to me that my students pass the AP exam than buying anything $387 would get me.