Teachers Reveal Exactly How Much Of Their Own Money They Spend On Supplies Every Fall – And Wow!

Most people aren’t expected to shell out hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars on items that are necessary for them to do their job.

Think about it: An accountant isn’t expected to supply their own computer keyboard, a creative director doesn’t purchase a printer for their team, a doctor doesn’t fund the decorations for the patient waiting rooms in a hospital.

Teachers are the exception to this rule. It’s commonly expected for educators to buy decor for their classrooms, extra supplies for students and, in some states, necessary classroom storage. In many cases, these costs come out of a teacher’s paycheck (and we all know teachers are chronically underpaid) but it depends on the state and the district just how much is covered by the school, parent-teacher association or other funders.

Teachers from across the country spoke with HuffPost about the costs they pay out of their own pockets each year just to get the school year started.

John, a middle school teacher in California entering his 19th year of teaching, spent more money in the first few years of his career, between $500 and $1,000 each school year, as he was building up his supplies.

Now, he spends $100 to $400 on necessities each school year.

This depends on “the bulletin boards that I’m making, the activities that I’m doing … updating the bookcases, because things are outdated within just a couple years, new stories need to be featured, new stories need to be highlighted,” John said.

Teachers, then, only get to write off $300 of the school supplies they buy for taxes, John said. This often doesn’t cover the full extent of what they spend, John noted.

This isn’t to say schools and parent-teacher associations don’t support teachers and help them start the school with what they need, John said. But additional supplies are often needed to make sure all students have what they need to learn, John said.

Brandon, a third-grade teacher in Texas, said “it’s definitely expected [for teachers to buy supplies and decor for their classrooms], but it’s also, I think, something that isn’t really spoken about, but we just do it.”

“I think as teachers, we strive to really make opportunities for learning and for engagement and fun for our students,” he said.

It costs money to make exciting, comfortable and engaging spaces for kids.

“This year, I believe I spent, on end, about $2,000 to fund my classroom the way that I wanted to,” he said.

This includes decor for the classroom, in addition to resources, hands-on activities and supplemental aids that help kids of all different learning styles learn, Brandon said. He also had to purchase items such as a computer keyboard, computer mouse and printer.

Tatyana, a third-grade reading and social studies teacher in Texas, is provided basic supplies by her school, such as pencil sharpeners and staplers, but anything decor-related is on her.

Depending on what she needs to buy each year, Tatyana spends between $300 and $400 on decor for her room. This includes things like rugs, bulletin boards and bulletin board paper.

She then may spend an additional $100 each year on supplies for students whose parents can’t afford to provide them with things like binders, folders, crayons and headphones.

“And that adds up, depending on how many students you have. For me, I have two sets of classes, so that’s 40 students. [If] 10 students don’t bring a binder, the binders are, depending on the size, the max is like $5 for a binder. So that’s already $50,” said Tatyana.

“I teach in Alabama. This is my 18th year,” Keri told HuffPost.

After working outside of the classroom for a few years, Keri is now teaching kindergarten and needed to stock up on supplies, decor and even furniture for her classroom.

“Literally, in the last month or so, I probably spent over $1,000 getting stuff for this room,” Keri said.

“When I walked in the room, there was literally nothing. Honestly, there is nothing in this room. There was nothing on the wall, there’s no rug. There was nowhere to put kids’ supplies,” she explained.

She had to bring in bookcases from home and buy new bookcases, she said.

“Most teachers have to buy classroom rugs, and they’re not cheap. I just got one off of Amazon, but it was like $200,” Keri said.

Keri stressed that she likes her school and her school district, and is grateful for the parent-teacher organization’s support, which gives teachers things like tissues and paper towels throughout the year, but it isn’t enough to cover everything the classroom needs — and some of these items may not be given to teachers until the late fall or early winter.

Cara, who teaches fourth grade in New Jersey, said New Jersey does treat its teachers well.

“Districts I’ve worked in, we’re given like a budget, so, $300 — now, that goes fast, and it’s not a lot of money when you start thinking about class sets of things,” Cara said.

This requires Cara to consider if she wants her budget to go toward a specific type of folder for her students, decor or something else.

On top of this allowance, she doesn’t spend much — “at most, I’ll spend $20 on new things … but that’s just because I’ve been teaching now for a little bit so I’ve accumulated things, I’ve saved things, I’ve taken care of things,” Cara said.

In her first years as a teacher, she’d spend another $100 or $200 on top of the budget, though.

Melissa, an elementary music teacher in Missouri who has also taught in Texas and Iowa, has spent between $200 and $1,000 on necessities for her classroom, depending on the year, the school district’s budget for the arts and PTA contributions. Now that she’s a few years into teaching, she tries to stay around the $200 mark, but she spent as much as $1,000 each school year during her first five years as a teacher.

All of the kids in the school take music classes, so the items in Melissa’s classroom tend to deteriorate and require replacement pretty quickly, she noted.

This is true for necessary music class supplies such as rhythm sticks, egg shakers, headphones, mallets and more, Melissa said.

“It’s on me to replace it mid-year, and if I don’t, then there goes a lot of my lessons or experiences that I wanted to provide my students,” Melissa said.

Jenny, a kindergarten teacher in Illinois and in her 15th year of teaching, receives a budget each year from her district that covers all of the supplies and decor she needs.

“I know that’s a rarity, and I feel bad for teachers who do have to spend out of pocket, and I know that because my first two years teaching, I didn’t get a single penny for anything in my classroom, and that’s very hard as a first-, second-year teacher to have to be spending money that you really don’t have coming out of college,” Jenny said.

Her first couple of years teaching, she estimates, she spent about $200 throughout the year on what she needed for her classroom.

″[Teachers] love their students, and they want to provide snacks for them and basic necessities for them and make sure that their classroom is a warm, welcoming environment,” Jenny said.

“I feel bad that they are having to spend so much of their paycheck on those things, and it really should be provided more by the state and by the district and all that,” she noted.

There are lots of things you can do to support your local teachers and school, and that’s true whether or not you have a child in school.

“Ultimately, education needs funding. So, at a micro level … go to your local schools, find out what they need, provide them,” said John.

You can even ask teachers in your community what they need for their classroom, John added. “Start micro because that’s going to have the most immediate effect on the students in your community,” he said.

Teachers also commonly make Amazon Wishlists with items they need for their classrooms or turn to online platforms like DonorsChoose, which is an online fundraising site where teachers post classroom projects or supplies that need funding, Cara said.

Brandon said the perspective around teachers asking for donations needs to change. “I think that there’s a negative scope and lens on education, and especially teachers at the moment, and so, changing really that viewpoint and that perspective on how teachers are treated, how teachers are seen,” Brandon said.

“Show up to board meetings, please, even if your kids don’t go there,” Melissa said. If you show up, you can voice concerns around budgetary matters or other topics at the school, Melissa added.

You should also vote on school-related issues in your community, Melissa said, even if your child is well past school age or you’re child-free.

“Still keeping a pulse on our schools — [they] are literally the hubs of our future. That sounds so cheesy, but it is what it is,” Melissa said.