City officials, including Sheila Dixon and Andres Alonso, are scheduled to appear at a news conference Friday to promote the Web site DonorsChoose.org, which is helping teachers get funding for classroom projects.

Here's how it works: Teachers submit their wish lists to the folks at DonorsChoose, and they select the project descriptions they want to put online. Then donors can sign on, pick a worthy project, and contribute any amount toward it. A handful of Baltimore teachers started participating in September, and since then, city classrooms have gotten $60,000 in funding, according to information presented at this week's school board meeting.