Giving Compass' Take:

• The Thomas B. Fordham Institute argues that DonorsChoose.org, an online donor platform for teachers to request funds for their students, should include private schools, because they are in need, too.

• This post doesn't say that public schools aren't worthy of philanthropic support — just that we shouldn't always paint private schools as elite institutions that are well-funded. For its part, DonorsChoose responded to the author of the piece and explained its policy. Do you agree that the site should change things up?

• Here's why Craig Newmark just gave $1 million for STEM on DonorsChoose.

DonorsChoose.org, an organization that allows teachers to request classroom supplies and experiences for their students, is guilty of discriminating against parochial and private schools. At first blush, it’s easy to see how its decision to only allow public school teachers to receive donor funds would make sense to many people who care about opportunity and equity in education. But let me tell you why it doesn’t ...

Often when we hear “private school,” our minds immediately conjure up images of elite and almost aristocratic private boarding schools attended by former presidents, members of Congress, and the children of actual royalty. Schools full of poor children don’t generally come to mind.

The New York City Partnership Schools, a network of Catholic schools that serves two of the poorest congressional districts in the country, is literally barred from posting projects at DonorsChoose.org because its schools are not technically public. The Cristo Rey Network of schools serves a similar population of students and is also excluded from the site, despite its commitment since 1996 to serve disadvantaged urban students.

Now contrast that to the public high school from which I graduated and later spent four years as a teacher. Wellesley High School is located in what is now one of the wealthiest communities not only in Massachusetts, but in all of New England. For two decades, the junior class has hosted an annual auction to raise money for junior prom, as well as senior festivities for the following year.

At the auction, parents spend hundreds of dollars on college essay help, and thousands of dollars on weekends at summer homes and ski houses.

In just one night, the junior class managed to raise $83,000 from parents. At a public school.

Read the full article about the DonorsChoose excluding private schools by Erika Sanzi at The Thomas B. Fordham Institute.