According to the Archdiocese of Chicago; "When Illinois lawmakers decided to end the Invest in Kids scholarship program, they jeopardized many schools throughout the state, including St. Bede. These schools must now try to replace those scholarship funds, which will be difficult." Chicago’s St Bede the Venerable School received notice last month that the school would be closing after the school year if they couldn’t raise $400-thousand by January 26th.
One student, Susan Lutzke, a 17 high school senior, decided to start a fundraising effort to save the school. “We found out the night of Dec. 13, and we were kind of sad about it. And then the next morning I made a GoFundMe in the car in the parking lot at my high school.” Her parents kicked it off with the first donation. They asked people to share the news. The school administration caught wind of the effort and most contributed too. All of them posted it on their social media pages. People who had never been to Chicago started making small donations because it was important to one of their friends.
With 12 days left until their deadline, they hit their target, raising over $400-thousand! “33 days ago, we were completely overwhelmed with the daunting task of raising such a huge sum of money in such a short period of time,” the teen writes, “We can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for us. Together, you have been the miracle we were hoping for.”
The public schools in Chicago are currently ranked 177th for public education despite spending the 2nd most per student (behind Boston) at over $29,000 annually per child.