In his recent editorial on the book banning lawsuit currently brewing in Miami-Dade schools, Leonard Pitts bemoans the school system’s waste of $300,000 on a lawsuit that the school board’s own lawyer said, according to Pitts, “violated the board’s own rules, not to mention multiple legal precedents.”  In order to make his point, he asked two teachers what they would purchase for their classrooms if they were given $300K.

It made me think, though.  What would I get for my classroom if I was given $300K?  Here’s a list of things I could think of:

• A laptop for my use
• Laptops for all of my students
• SMART technology, including a SMART board
• Funds for guest speakers, including published authors
• Professional development that will enable me to be a more effective teacher
• My own copy machine and a ton of paper
• Consumable books, including paperback novels, so my school could save some money

I’m sure given time to do more research on products, I could think of more, but this is what I came up with off the top of my head.  What would you do with $300K for your classroom?