In December of 2016, the Chicago Tribune came out with an article that explained the revenue and taxes that funded public schools in Illinois— the results are disheartening.

Local taxpayers fund 67.4 percent of public schools, while the state funds roughly 20 percent and the federal government funds only 10 percent. This is a problem.

This means that essentially if you live in a lower-income community, those schools will not get as much funding as they potentially need, therefore offering less opportunities throughout the district. These opportunities can be anywhere from athletics to classes— classes varying from the arts to enrichment programs.

Although this is very discouraging to communities, specifically lower-income communities, there are a lot of wealthy and successful people who donate to schools. For example: Chance the Rapper.

Chance the Rapper is a successful singer and songwriter from Chicago.

Last year, he raised and donated 2.2 million dollars to 20 different schools in the Chicago area, meaning that each of these schools will get roughly $100,000.

A lot of these schools donated to elementary schools and low-income schools in the South Side of Chicago.

Chance’s goals are to increase opportunities and classes for arts and enriched programs.

Specifically looking at a few of the high schools he picked, Spry Community Links High School and Corliss High School, the donation is going to make a huge difference.

The total amount of funding for Corliss is just above $2 million, while Spry is just under $2 million. Spry is expected to have a 6% increase in funding, while Corliss is not.

Not only is Chance the Rapper donating to these public schools in Illinois, but so are other rappers, such as Common, “Rhymefest”, and “Naledge”.

Celebrities of all kinds have donated to public schools throughout the nation— Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey and so many others.

Basketball star LeBron James is building an entire school in his hometown in Akron, Ohio for the low-income community. His “I Promise” school will come with free bikes, meals and college tuition. The purpose of it is to give back to his community and give those less privileged more opportunities to be successful.

Celebrities everywhere are making good changes to our education system— these donations are a big deal to public schools, especially those districts who are in need of upgrades.

These celebrities, like Chance the Rapper and all of the others, are not getting the recognition, appreciation, and gratification they deserve.

“Who taught all these rappers that a big deal’s not a big deal?” —Chance the Rapper.

Things need to change.

Thank you, Chance. And thank you to all of the other celebrities for your donations to help further the education of our future leaders.

Natalee Reynolds is a sophomore English and creative writing major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at

nmreynolds@eiu.edu.