Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies
As the beginning of a new school year draws near, it’s not just parents who are scouring the big-box and office-supply store sale fliers for deals on school supplies. Teachers are under more pressure than ever to provide the kinds of items that used to be stocked in supply closets or provided by school districts — and they can get yelled at for an infraction as small as using up too much copier paper.
Even though the economy’s been in recovery for some time now, schools never reversed the cutbacks they implemented during the recession, and many are actually spending less per pupil this back-to-school season, according to CBS News. As a result, most teachers spend more than $500 per year on school supplies out of their own pocket.
The problem is that state-level school funding has been cut way back, and municipalities are loathe to fill the gap by hiking property taxes. Not having enough money is especially acute in some districts and in lower-income neighborhoods, where parents might not have enough money — or kids might be living with a grandparent on a fixed income — to pay for basic school supplies, let alone the paper towels, hand sanitizer and other items schools now ask them to provide. One teacher interviewed by CBS said she was only allotted $1.60 for school supplies per kid — for the entire year.
In many places, the situation is dire. CBS cited data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that found more than 30 states actually paid less per student in school funding in 2014 than they did back in 2008. As a result, teachers are digging more deeply into their pockets than ever before, and that’s before the school year has even begun.Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies | MONEY:
BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES
- A piece of chalk -- in case the classroom you're assigned to has none.
- An eraser or small rag -- in case the classroom you're assigned to has none.
- A piece of colored chalk -- in case you want to underscoresomething.
- A few rubber bands -- in case you need to band some things together.
- A pad of sticky-notes -- in case you want to stick a note onto something.
- A mechanical lead pencil -- because they're always sharp, don't require a pencil sharpener, and are fine, clear, and erasable.
- Press-on white labels (either address label size or one-line width labels) -- so you can white out or label anything.
- A black ink ballpoint pen -- for making carbon copies or for writing that's more reproducible by a copier than that produced by a blue ink pen.
- A package of 3 x 5 cards -- for class participation exercises, sort-able notes, hall passes
- A yellow highlighter pen -- to highlight points in your lesson plan that you inadvertently omitted, need to review.
- A red pen -- to write evaluative notes on students' tests, homework
- Loose-leaf reinforcements -- to keep pages from falling out of your binder.
- Wet-wash pad -- for quick cleanups.
- A single-edged razor blade(instead of bulky scissors) -- for cutting out magazine articles, pictures... They usually come with a protective cardboard over the blade.
- A small tin of aspirin -- in case of a headache.
- Some large and small paper clips -- to clip together homework or test papers from particular class periods.
- A piece of carbon paper -- in case you want to keep a copy of notes you write to parents or students.
- A see-through plastic pencil case -- to carry all the above items.
- An appointment book -- to keep track of weekly appointments, things to do
- A cell phone.
- A grade book -- for taking attendance, checking homework, giving credit for class participation
- A pad of newsprint (rolled up?) -- to make notes on; especially useful when you'll teach the same lesson more than once-- in different rooms.
- A magic marker or two -- to make notes with.
- A small stapler -- for securely posting items on a bulletin board or attaching papers.
- Cardboard -- to place over a door or window to cut down on hallway distractions.
- A small can of machine oil -- in case a squeaky seat or door distracts students.
- This list -- to check over a couple of days before school starts.
Click here for a printable version of the supply list.
