New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and his wife went to bat for Big Apple public school teachers, pledging $1.3 million to them after The Post revealed how reliant instructors are on donations for basic classroom supplies.
The Aug. 30 story — which revealed that nearly 3,000 teachers were forced to go hat-in-hand to raise money for their classrooms on the online fundraising platform DonorsChoose this year — inspired the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation to act swiftly, according to Juan Brizuela, a DonorsChoose spokesperson.
“Alex Cohen moved the Cohen Foundation to immediately make a donation to educators” following the story, Brizuela told The Post, referring to the hedge fund billionaire’s wife, who heads the philanthropic organization.
The foundation’s seven-figure gift “fully funded more than 2,500 DonorsChoose projects by NYC teachers, who will soon receive resources like new books, instructional technology, pencils, notebooks, and sports equipment,” Brizuela said.
It also brought the total number raised for DOE educators through DonorsChoose to a whopping $3.9 million so far this year, he added.
The Cohen Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
The NYC Department Education — which was projected to spend a record-breaking $42,000 per pupil this school year, the highest out of any school district in the country — funds schools on an equity-based per pupil funding model.
Principals ultimately decide how to spend the dough, according to the department.
Under the Teacher’s Choice program, the DOE afforded each teacher $235 reimbursement for supplies for the 2024-2025 school year, if instructors turned in receipts.
The reimbursement amount this year has not been announced, but many educators say the funding only covers a fraction of what they expect to spend on supplies — while the rest comes out of their own pocket.
The number of city teachers on DonorsChoose has climbed to 4,334 teachers, according to Brizuela. Among them, there are nearly 6,500 projects totaling $4.9 million still waiting to be fulfilled.
Erica Yonks, an art teacher at the High School for Law Advocacy and Community Justice on the Upper West Side, was just one of the city educators with DonorsChoose projects.
“There’s no other profession where you’re expected to provide literally the basics that you need to do your job on your own – let alone what the kids need too,” said Yonks, who was seeking hygiene and art supplies for her classroom.
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