Your independent guide to NYC public schools

Governor Paterson's bleak budget preview proposes slicing hundreds of millions of dollars slated for education -- cuts that will inevitably affect the lives New York City's students and teachers in the classrooms.

While City Council leadership and union heads gird their loins for budget negotiations, no one maintains that cuts won't come. Shortfalls in after-school and supplies budgets are the tip of one wave. For those with a little cash to spare -- and generous impulses for New York City's stalwart educators, visit DonorsChoose, where teachers' wish lists for budget-friendly projects find the funders they need to flourish.