Scienceblogs.com, as a whole, collected over $54,000, not counting the additional $15,000 that Seed Media will be donating in matching funds. (As of this morning, Steven Colbert and his TV viewers have kicked in $46,000.)

If you like free money, Six Apart (owners of Movable Type and LiveJournal) have an offer for you: send them an email, and they'll send you $30.

"What's the catch?" you say. Because there has to be a catch...

And, indeed, there is a catch: the $30 is in the form of a gift certificate for DonorsChoose.org, the favorite educational charity of ScienceBlogs and a bunch of other people.

The school year just started again for my kids, and it's pretty hard to escape the conclusion that as public school teachers are being asked to do more, their resources are dwindling. During the summer, the school mailed out the (extensive) lists of basic school supplies needed by kids at each grade level -- the basic stuff, like crayons and pencils and paper, that during the last millennium when I was in grade school were included in the classroom funding like desks and electricity.

It strikes me that as a society, we need to revisit our funding priorities. But in the meantime, there are legions of cash-strapped teachers trying to spark some excitement around learning. Even if their school districts are tapped out, there are folks who value education who can help. High on that list is DonorsChoose...

If only I could earmark some of my tax dollars so less was spent on the war on terror.