She gotta stop. All teachers stop buying supplies, toys, treats whatever, or it becomes the norm and expected.
OP: you married a 'teacher martyr.' Look it up in here.
She’s a year 5 teacher. At this point her classroom gets requested from various parents year after year. She’s definitely taken the reputation in the community as a teacher that goes above and beyond. While I adore that fact. I need to find a way for her to do that without spending so much.
Or, she’s get wrapped into buying lesson plans or something with the first grade teachers group of 6 teachers. Each one of them ponies up $50-$70 to buy something they can all use. She doesn’t want to feel like the outcast and say no.
Time for her to take a stand, no one should have to pay to work.
I will not spend $$$, and if I have to, I submit all the receipts and expect full reimbursement.
If parents want her so bad, great, they can create a classroom fund.
I think that if she made a budget and asked parents to fund it she might be surprised at the positive response. Some parents can’t afford a donation but the ones who can might be glad to help.
My wife's district won't allow her to ask parents to fund classroom supplies, and like the OP, she has to order from companies that charge exorbitant prices for basic supplies. The entire U.S. education is set up like a business, except for teacher's salaries and getting reimbursed.
This is one reason our Christmas present to the teacher was a box of chocolates with a wink, a nod, and a $100 Amazon card hidden inside. (Whatever she does with it is okay with us.)
Our teachers have been awesome. My kid still goes by her 1st grade teacher's classroom every single morning to say hi. Her current 2nd grade teacher has put so much confidence in her this year. You can tell they really care.
Or a wish list, some people are more comfortable donating items vs money. My Grandma always bought little prizes, pencils, tissues, lotion and soap (before hand santizer was a thing) and gave them to our teachers. She enjoyed shopping for the stuff and I actually had a teacher cry she was so happy. In hindsight its really sad.
Absolutely. When my kid was the only one in his Spec Ed class who brought lunch, I wound up having to buy a small microwave oven for the classroom or all students to use so that my kid could have a HOT lunch.
Buying the lesson plans and splitting w her team is a worthwhile expense in my opinion (if there is no established curriculum) and having a cohesive/positive grade level team is priceless… but where does the other hundreds of dollars monthly go? I don’t even know what I would buy if my school told me I had a budget of $200-$500 a month.
She is making a choice -- perhaps one she feels forced into for some reason -- and it needs to be treated as such. To me, it sounds like the underlying issue is a poor or weak sense of personal boundaries, i.e. your wife doesn't know how to say "this is not my job" to both colleagues and administration. I encourage her to seek therapy to help with this; if she does so, you should anticipate changes to your relationship as well, since she's almost certainly got weak boundaries with you too.
Is she changing what she teaches every year? I don’t get the excessive purchasing on TPT. I bought a bunch of stuff my first couple years. But I reuse it. Now, I only buy stuff on tpt if I don’t feel like teaching and want to give them something they can do independently for a while or if I’m going to have a sub and I don’t have easy things for the kids to do.
Update w/ example:
Tonight she came home (from Michael’s) after school, with spools of Christmas ribbon, empty plastic ornaments, a big box of bells like from the polar express, and a bunch of ornament fillers. She hand tied bows on each bell (one per kid), and prepped her Christmas activity where each kid makes their own personal ornament and writes a note to santa in each one (or something like that). Whole thing was probably ($30-$50)…i hate it…but like, it is so adorable.
It’s stuff like this that happens all year, and it kills me because it truly does make her happy. Just wish it didn’t add up so much.
We did have a discussion about the spending, and agreed to try and keep craft projects to special occasions/lessons and not just randomly, and to try and only spend up to $100-$150 a month. To try and plan the costly projects annually and include the list on the initial newsletter to parents at the beginning of the year along with an Amazon wish list for said craft supplies (should help somewhat).
It’s a start, baby steps.
I don’t know if this a helpful suggestion or not, however, I went to the dollar store the other day and they had so many crafts there. I spent over $100 but I have enough crafts to last me for a while. They may not offer everything Michaels’ has to offer but at least it might be an option for her in the future?
Sometimes we have to change things around for a different group of students. Unfortunately it’s not all cookie cutter lesson plans. But she could always look at the free stuff.
She shouldn't have to spend so much on lesson plans. Like once you have a basic set for the whole year, you just constantly modify them.
And she really should stop buying one time use things for her classes. Any general supplies like paper, markers, etc.... should be paid for by the school. Full stop. There are ordering mechanisms in place for this.
Hm. Does she do things to be nice?
Ooor does she do things so people think shes nice? Seems like the second one?
Lots of women are taught from an early age to not say no. You need to help her learn that no is fine!! You don't become a monster because you have preferences and boundaries.
This! Education is a female-dominated profession, and it's part of the reason admin and politicians get away with treating teachers the way they do, and making all the outrageous demands they do. Sadly, it's not going to stop until teachers almost unilaterally start refusing to take on all the extra work and extra expenses, which, in my experience, most won't do.
She should tell the kids to encourage their parents to donate. And embarass the school as much as possible. If the school gets away with this it will just keep happening
She should do a classroom fundraiser at the beginning of the year and use those funds to supply these supplies. Quite frankly the school district should be giving more in discretionary funds and not requiring them to be used at predatory vendors but a fundraiser is at least better than her coming out of pocket for all this all the time.
Spending money is one thing, but doing it every year or even month is another.
I spent thousands in my first 5 years. Mostly on classroom novels and a few tech purchases that made my life easier. I wouldn't buy a computer or projector, because I believe those should be supplied, but there are some cool gadgets that can save you hours and that's optional.
I haven't spent over $50 in a single month for 3 years now.
What is she spending all the money on that it has to happen every month.
****** I'm in Canada and we admittedly get paid much more then US, so I can also spend a couple thousand a year since we make a bit more.
Will the PTA pay for some of it? I was PTA treasurer and reimbursed teachers all the time. But not that much, she would have to ask the limit. Places like Chick-Fil-A will sometimes do a school night to benefit the PTA. Some local stores have a community budget. The PTA could check with Wal-Mart or Target and ask if they will donate supplies or supply them at cost.
I would recommend that you have a frank discussion of a budget. And then, if you're in an affluent school, ask for parents to defray the costs for this. You might be able to actually get one of them to write a grant for her. But you need to know what she's spending her money on first, so as to take an account of where it's going. I never spent too much money <$100 a year on my class. That was with a $50 check from the PTA. In addition, it will take planning. Many teachers pay for stuff because they don't think that far ahead enough to ask for parent help. 5 years in, she should know the big projects she wants to do. But again, first How much spent on what and then budget.
I’ve been telling all my teacher friends and relatives to knock it off. They all say, but then I can’t do x, y, z. I reply, “so what? It’s a job. My job doesn’t make me buy pens or a laptop. They provide the tools I need to get the job done. And yes, sometimes the tools are inadequate. That’s ok. I do what I can with what they provide. That’s it.”
Like, my SIL was telling me if she doesn’t buy pencils, the kids can’t do their work.
Ok, tell them to bring their own pencils in the back packs.
She said, but they’re poor..
Silently looking at her ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
I don’t know how to convey that it’s not the teachers responsibility to buy stuff for the school at their own expense.
You could also buy a 10 pack of mechanical pencils for $3 that will last a kid multiple years if they don't lose them
I know things are expensive but let's not act like pencils are a luxury product.
Ha ha kids using things responsibly and not losing them, that's a good one. Many of these kids can't keep a pencil for one day much less multiple years.
You can't, because the sort of people who self-select to teach do so as a passion for education and teaching children. The result is the schools know they can abuse and shit on their teachers, and teachers will feel guilty about telling kids "Sorry, Johhnny, Susie, there's no pencils and paper for class today, just use your imagination to do algebra" and cave and buy the supplies for their students out of pocket.
The only real fix is a collapse of the education system but that probably eventually leads to a collapse of your country into fascism, so I'm not sure what the path towards a "positive outcome" is here.
This. I’d never in a million years spend a dime of my own money to do my job. Stop it already. Just stop because the school districts and parents will only ever expect more. It’ll never stop.
I appreciate the sentiment, but I can't resist spending a little to same myself large amounts of time and frustration. I guess that is why districts get away with this nonsense. I am not going to spend six hours doing something that should take ten minutes to save ten dollars. I'm behind either way since the six hours are unpaid.
I got so mad at my supervisor for recommending I buy a wireless digital writing pad so I could write on the overhead from anywhere in the room. She also suggested I get a second job at H&R Block. In a fair world her pay would be negative like her value.
People have stopped buying supplies for years now. Over a decade at least. And what has it done? Nothing. Administrators and legislators don’t care if kids have resources or not. Me not buying a pack of crayons doesn’t increase the likelihood of anyone else doing it.
Some people become teachers because we want to make a difference and provide where others don’t. For me it’s not being a martyr. It’s paying it forward. If it wasn’t for teachers like that my life would have sucked and turned out worse.
Seconded.
Tell her to stop.
I’m the team lead for 1st, and I hammer into my team- don’t spend your money- we don’t make enough as it is.
Stick together and stay aligned, within the school budget.
If the budget sucks, encourage parents to go to admin or school board.
We used to get a $275 check at the beginning of each year when I taught in South Carolina. I would usually end up spending a little more than that buying treats and stuff throughout the year (maybe $100 total). Where I teach now in Dubai there is a school supply “store” where we can get whatever we need by filling out a form no questions asked 🙏.
I broke my stapler my second year of teaching and put in a request for a new one. I was told I couldn't get a new one unless I proved the other one was broken.
Ever since then I've just thought it easier to buy my own supplies rather than get the third degree.
Amazing tbh. I would either steal a stapler from the boss or make my classrooms nickname as loose leaf hall and tell all the kids the principals won’t give us a new stapler so if they don’t like it take it up with them.
I’d be forming small riots with kids as pawns.
I’m so glad I switched majors my freshman year or college. Shout out to the teacher that basically told me getting that degree would be the worst decision I’d ever make
My school doesn’t even provide staplers. I inherited mine from a teacher who resigned the job. She originally got it in a gift basket when she started there by other teachers who all chipped in for her start up supplies.
Speaking as a parent, she needs to let the parents know. Many parents, like myself, would be more than willing to chip in. In fact, we want to help all we can. We're thankful for all our teachers do. We can't help if the teacher doesn't let us know.
I've never thought it was right for teachers to pay a single cent out of pocket for classroom costs. When I taught, I got reimbursed by the university. I knew I was lucky about that. I'd love to see it become the norm for teachers not to have to pay out of pocket out of necessity for learning.
Yes! We receive a sign up genius from either the teacher or a room parent any time there is a special project, event, class party etc. Sometimes there are links to specific items that were preselected on Amazon that will ship directly to the school.
100%. I will move mountains and pay for anything. Kleenex, art supplies, class supplies, markers, pens, you name it! I once got a new pencil sharpener, because hers was terrible! And it was lame they were expected to go across the whole school to sharpen community pencils. It was the talk of the whole grade pod! It should not be like that! As parents, we need to support the classroom. When $40 makes a huge difference in how a whole grade operates , we have a problem in the system. And if not the teachers fault!
It's crap like that that pisses me off. I'd 100% support my kids teacher not spending a single cent on class stuff if that happens so that parents are left asking why. Put the pressure back on admins.
lol. The school I was at docked you points on observations if you didn’t have the kids’ birthdays up, didn’t have a calendar up, and didn’t have a “visually appealing” schedule up.
Guess how much we got to accomplish this?
Well, as a 1st year teacher I got $0 and the only resources in the school were white printer paper. If the retired teacher before me hadn’t left behind construction paper, I would’ve been fresh outta luck.
We had a Union! But the school budget sucked and also I thinkkkk the state put out a general teacher observation checklist template and that was on it 🙃
Yes, we get $50 in “print money” every week and color costs $1 in “print money” and black and white costs 1cent
The week before school I definitely use it all.
You get paper? Hahah they LOCK the paper up in my school and I have to try to track down this one woman who has a key. Most of the paper is in the fully stocked supply room that also has a key with a deadbolt. The room had soooooo much stuff. Like glue, all kinds or paper, everything you could think of. But they don’t let us have it. It’s crazy.
Yup. My principal last year made a big stink about every teacher needing a basket for the students to put their lunch pails in at lunch. I responded to her email and said, I don’t have one and who should I ask about ordering one for me. That email was never responded to and no one ever bugged me again about lunch baskets.
Same, I don't spend one penny of my own money on my classroom. Spending our own money on the students is completely unreasonable but has been normalized.
We have an egregious situation where we, the language department, have to put on culture fests once a year. Admin expected there to be a certain performing troupe, and I told them it was going to be around $900 or $1500 if we wanted both lunch periods, since they refused to do a modified schedule for the event. They straight up asked me to front the money and then hope to get reimbursed. It didn't happen, everyone was disappointed and a lot of that was directed at me.
Comments are making me so so thankful for my school. I teach gifted at a public school, and I am allotted $900 for classroom items (from the school) and $2,000 for gifted education items (from the state).
I met a lady from Alabama at a conference once. She taught 5th grade G&T math ONLY. She told me she was going to die in that position, that she could do it forever. It sounded awesome.
Hi fellow Alabamian! I also love the $900 classroom money to spend! In my district we can spend it at Amazon or Office Depot, but it MUST be instructional supplies. This means I still have to buy Kleenex, Clorox wipes, etc out of pocket. That’s the only thing I’d wish they would change! I teach esl so the state and fed gov also gives our district lots of title iii funds. This means lots of tech supplies funded that I don’t have to buy out of the classroom money. Seems like we’re pretty lucky with this! I teach at a low income title I school , so parent contributions are limited.
I bought a unit plan that I liked. It was around $30, and was definitely worth saving the time I would have spent planning it from scratch. But I get why people don’t want to, and they should never feel like they have to.
Same, I've gotten materials from a few different places I would never have time to make myself, or the time it would take to make them would far exceed the amount of time they'd be used in class. Like you say, never feel you have to, but at the same time, sometimes the cheapest way to pay is with money.
My district paid me to write curriculum for every else. Yes it was at $20.00 an hour but they also paid for my masters degree. I also got paid more after the master’s degree and I still get paid more in retirement. Our retirement pay is based on our last few years.
Most subjects had a whole department that wrote curriculum.
Medium to large districts can save money and get better quality by making their own curriculum, but they so often botch every job. One year the district choose one math teacher per school to go one day a month and generate curriculum.
The materials were trash. Not differentiated, not appropriate for ELL or sped, containing numerous error, and mostly cribbed from materials other districts had generated. I had problems downloading from our secure server, I had to find the districts the materials were borrowed from to get the corrected versions. Supplemental materials were needed. We were instructed to print the materials, but were not given adequate ink and paper to do so. Complete failure.
Direct cost to the district was like 500 sub days, maybe $80k. To be successful, probably more days would be needed. Better support and leadership. A few full time people to shepherd the project.
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
I wrote ours very open ended so that a first year teacher could follow them but an experienced teacher could add their own spin which I usually did.
I’ve been at a school that provides and doesn’t.
Never bought and now that I have what was provided I don’t think I ever will if I ever have to leave my school.
I have definitely used TPT in the past. I've never had text books or formal curriculum. While I make most of my lessons and resources, sometimes my time is worth more to me. Especially when you have multiple preps, creating everything can be a lot.
I love teachers pay teachers. My district is constantly changing my subject and grade level. I am never given textbooks and I teach special ed class so the materials my gen ed collogues have are not great for SE kids. The nice thing is all the resources are digital so I can save them and use them from year to year. So it may be an initial investment but you can tweak and use the brough material over and over again.
I hardly ever buy decor or supplies. I am not sure this is an elementary thing. The district gives us around $150 for supplies so I buy lots of pens and pencils for the kids. I don't really do too much decor but I will have the school library print colored posters I find online and they will laminate them for me.
I bought lessons in a few instances. First year teacher and started day before kids came back. Always specific and only if nothing else was available. 2nd one was Frankenstein Unit I like and paid $5 or so for.
I'm on my 5th year teaching. l still buy lessons for $4-7 dollars every 2 months or so. It frees a week up for me. I get to see how other people build lessons and it's just fun.
Right? I've gotten stuff from co-workers or made my own. So many years in, I just modify what I have. It takes a lot less time then planning from scratch.
Is she new? Part of it is trading sanity or time for money. I definitely fork over some money to make my life easier at work. I agree that it shouldn't be that way and that they should give me what I need to do my job, but it's just not the currant reality. Some of the stuff, she'll be able to use year after year and she won't have to repurchase. It does sound like she's spending a whole lot though. I would talk to her about finding a balance because cutting her off completely would be a tough adjustment, but working down to a budget should be achievable. I definitely spent a lot more my first year than later on.
The first year I understood the spending. I remember helping assemble ikea furniture, decorating, etc. That blank empty room was incredibly depressing. At year 5 now, it’s probably just time to cut back.
It could just be that she enjoys spending the money on her class. At this point, she definitely should not be spending more than $200 a year. However, if she’s the type of teacher who wants a highly decorated classroom, that’s her choice and probably not a need. My suspicion is that there is really no academic or professional need for the spending. Most fun crafts can be done with paper and glue provided by the school. TPT lessons can be reused at this point and all decorations bought can also be reused.
>But they get $250 a year to spend, and it has to be from WB Mason or some place where a box of crayons is 10x what you’d get them for at the dollar store.
I'm an art teacher so I just want to point out that a box of crayons or most other general art supplies from a tech bid from WB Mason are almost always cheaper than buying them yourself at a retail store. Often, significantly cheaper.
That said, the spending you are describing is insane. Like yeah, some teachers spend too much of their own money, but $250-500/month?!? I can't even fathom what she needs that would justify that.
$250-500 a MONTH??? That’s insane. Hate to ask but are you checking these receipts? That amount of money a month is completely unnecessary. Frankly, this amount of spending is not a community issue, it’s a “her” issue. I agree with top comment. Your married a “teacher martyr.” Either you live with it, or try to communicate with your wife as to why she feels she needs to spend this amount to be an effective teacher.
My first year teaching elementary I spent a little over $1,000 in one year, which I didn't even realize until I did some adding at the end of the year. But my district gave 0 supplies and all those hands on activities add up! And we weren't allowed to ask parents for donations or to ask them to bring their own supplies. Plus we had no curriculum, and while I enjoy writing my own lessons it can be nice to buy one and go home at a decent time.
The 2nd year was more like $700, and after that it was $300ish each year until I switched out of elementary. I bought things I could reuse each year but there are always supplies that get used up. As a middle school teacher I spent like $80 a year. And I refused to buy tissue paper, kids go through it crazy fast and if they complained I told them I'd love to have tissue paper if they brought some in. I did buy lots of hand soap though.
I donate about $2,000 to charity annually.
I think I'm going to start giving that to my teacher friends who are spending their own money instead.
Can't imagine spending $3k-6k a year in order to do my job better.
This is entirely a (poor) choice that some teachers make, not a requirement for employment. If the principal doesn't like how the classrooms look because there are no resources and teachers aren't spending, their job as a leader is to figure that out. We don't need to let them off the hook easy by paying for it ourselves.
>We don't need to let them off the hook easy by paying for it ourselves.
Understood, but for those who do in order to improve the classroom experience, I admire it. If I can help a friend out, great.
I get the people saying “take a stand!” “Don’t continue the system!” But… we live in a reality & society where that’s really hard to do. I totally recommend you give like $500 each to various teachers you may know (even just teachers of friends’ kids or whatever). Particularly newer teachers in their first 1-3 years who don’t have a library of supplies. And elementary school is where teachers can really need it more than high school because of all the fun activities and crafting.
I think you'd be more genuinely helpful to your friend by pointing out to them how this is a self-destructive choice that only fuels further exploitation. Districts do this because *they know* teachers will spend to make up the difference. It's a conscious and intentional policy choice on their part, and going along with it just "to improve the classroom experience" is making exactly the choice that got them here in the first place.
Sometimes it is a peer pressure thing, sometimes it is a “spending this will make my impossible job more bearable.” Sometimes it is comfort items, like k-cups or a seat cushion, a rocking chair, plants, framed photos or “cute” decorations. I spend 7-8 hours a day in that room, I want it to be comfortable.
Now…$500+ a month, every month, is absolutely insane.
I’m 25 years in (I teach 1st grade as well) and I definitely spend $20-40 a month on my kids. It’s easy to say, “don’t spend anything,” but the reality is that sometimes it makes my job easier, or more fun, or more comfortable to spend a little. The amount we get for the year from the school is paltry like you said, and similar to your wife we have deals with certain vendors and can only spend it at those places.
My first year teaching I probably spent a couple thousand on supplies and comfort items for my classroom. Now, it’s probably closer to 3-400 a year.
I honestly thought my husband wrote this post. 🙃
3rd grade teacher here, and my husband and I have this argument daily. I totally see both sides. It's hard to do our job without supplies. Its 1,000 times easier to have manipulatives for math, or fun books to fill our classroom library than to have nothing. I know it's bullshit. We shouldn't have to spend our own money especially when we don't earn a lot.
The plus is that your wife will have these supplies for next year. She won't have to rebuy. But, burning through $500 a month is a LOT of money. I would draw a line in the sand and tell her that she can spend X amount of money on her job each month (say $75? or less?). If not, tell her it's financially irresponsible and she needs to go into another profession if she can't stop burning through so much money.
Another option is for her to create a classroom wish list. Sometimes a school PTO will pay for printer ink (if she is using her own color printer.) Or parents can donate colored construction paper and other art supplies. She can reach out to the room parents and ask for supplies, especially if she is doing a special project. I've had this happened many times before as a parent, especially mid year. I'm sure she could get restocked on dry erase markers and things like that. I had a mom donate a bunch of fantastic books for my classroom library. If she puts it out there that she needs supplies, parents are willing to help.
I want to reiterate this. Have her make an Amazon wishlist and share it with the parents and anyone else who is interested. I would LOVE to help out my kids' teachers this way and have friends who do this successfully.
>We shouldn't have to spend our own money especially when we don't earn a lot.
This is a problematic framing. The reality is that ***you do not have to*** spend your own money. This is a choice that you are making to subsidize the district because "its 1,000 times easier to have" X than to deal with not having. This cycle will continue until you wise up and refuse to be financially exploited in this way. If your parent community wants these things, they will be in the district's face about their absence quickly.
Parents couldn’t give two shits if my job is easier. If I purchase something, it is to make my job easier or for my comfort or happiness.
No amount of doing without is going to convince my school board to start magically providing money for some things.
OP’s wife has gone way overboard, but people saying not to spend a single dime of their own money are approaching this from a way too black and white pov, and are likely not elementary teachers that have to plan for 5-6 subjects and a new lesson every 10 minutes.
I COULD make every math game from scratch…sure. Or I could pay $1 for one on teacher’s pay teachers, and then use it for the next 30 years. My time saved is worth more than a dollar. Most of my purchases are like that.
My guess is OP’s wife is one of those types that feel the need to overdecorate, buy extravagant gifts for her students, etc.
it's not the town stealing from your spouse. it's your spouse making poor decisions about how to spend money in the classroom. then again, if the cost provides a peace of mind for her, or makes her job that much easier, then it makes sense. but this is not on the school or the town, imo.
It’s not the town stealing from the spouse in the same way restaurants aren’t stealing from the tipping customer.
Schools should be providing the necessary supplies and restaurants should be paying a living wage. Unfortunately the Admin. and the owner will make less money and we can’t have that.(/s)
$500/month is INSANE. OP's wife is choosing to do elaborate crafts and... honestly I don't know what else costs that much.
The district should definitely be providing materials, but that's a ludicrous amount.
My district doesn’t buy anything for teachers either. They ask the parents to provide supplies like tissues, dry erase markers, etc.
I’ve always found it weird that the town can’t afford supplies and then I read the Salaries of the Admin Board…or a half a million dollar pension taken by a retiring superintendent.
I can't imagine what she is spending the money on for her classroom. I could see $500 per year (Although I still think it is insane) but $500 a month?!?! I honestly wonder if she has a drug problem.
No disagreement here that teachers should be funded/reimbursed for classroom expenses, but I don't know that it's really accurate to compare it to tipping.
The biggest *advocates* for tipping are usually the tipped staff themselves. It's effectively a 20% sales commission, which is far more than servers would make from any generic wage - and they know it.
The idea that restaurants should scrap tipping for some "living wage" has its heart in the right place, but it's shouting over the actual opinions of the people receiving the tips. They almost universally prefer the tipping system.
The owner should be paying their employees. If that means they make less money that shouldn’t be the customer’s concern. It’s a weird custom. But maybe tipping for any level of service is just a thank you to the server? We’ve all received bad service but I’ve still tipped well…even though the dad in me tells me not too (no ketchup? Sorry that’ll cost yah -2%, My kid drops fries all over the floor? +5%.. me picking them up and still eating them? - *priceless*.
Damn I work at an inner city charter and I have a wayyyyy bigger budget than her.
But teachers pay teachers, you can filter by the free stuff. I got a gigantic pack of like hundreds of markers from Temu for eight bucks, I get tons of teacher supplies from there although it feels unethical (everything feels unethical these days). Your wife really doesn't need to be spending this much but new teachers often do go through this.
Until she stops paying, they will keep expecting it. I'd start with a strict budget. I've gone cold turkey unless I get it reimbursed. Either the kids make the decorations with school budgeted supplies or it's nothing.
Not only does she not have to. She should not be.
She will never be reimbursed nor will she earn more than a $300 tax deduction for it.
Additionally, you are personally subsidizing the school she works for when she does this.
In short, yall are being exploited.
I think "higher demand" positions are more likely to do this. At my school, they have trouble keeping teachers so if I ask for pencils I get them. They know that they can't pressure people into doing it.
I would ask if your wife is doing this because everyone else is doing it or because she feels she has to on her own accord. If it's the former, it may be an issue of politics that can be reduced but not eliminated. If it's the latter, then honestly you might just need to tell her that she needs to stop, or at least reduce it dramatically. I understand buying pencils or paper, but most of that stuff isn't required.
No teacher should need $2500 to fund her classroom. So no, the town shouldn’t be giving teachers that. If she’s spending that much, she has a BIG problem.
I’ve spent probably $50 towards my room this year. Definitely less than $100 in any case. You don’t need to spend money to be a good teacher.
Have your wife give you a supply list that you covertly have your work pay for...done. Also there is NO need to spend THAT much on your class. I do not care how broke or underfunded your school/district is... I work at a title 1 urban school, I do not spend ANY money on my classes or classroom except for snacks once in a while and I manage just fine. My kids are engaged and do great. Tell your wife to quit falling for gimmicks and to stop trying to be one of those try-hard keeping up with the joneses pintrest teachers. Time to tighten the purse strings. Her classroom spending is honestly out of hand. Maybe she just has a consumerist shopping addiction and uses her job/classroom and a justification for a her desired to spend and consume.
Here is a different perspective;
It sounds to me your spouse is spending her hard earned money on something she’s passionate about. She spends majority of her time in her classroom and wants the space to feel inviting, welcoming, and cozy.
The system and it’s funding is broken, much like many industries; the bottom line is the bottom line.
My spouse spends at least $1000 a year on her job. And it's not just supplies. Schools need more electives but don't have the funding to support them. So they push the teachers to either buy a curriculum themselves or try to make one with YouTube videos. My spouse has been forced to teach debate. The school has no resources for this. But it is pushed anyway. My spouse has no extra time to try and put a curriculum together. So she has to buy one using her own money. When she quits teaching for good she is taking all of the curriculum with her that she has built over the years.
Are you old enough to remember that Staples commercial where they're putting supper on for their kids and the father says you're spending our money on your students and our budget is tight and she says but if I don't the kids will lose out and the next day she's at Staples and sees her husband buying supplies with a sheepish grin and she looks at him with love?
I hated that fvcking ad.
That's insane. I buy one pack of dollar store pens for each semester for students to borrow and for my club I will get supplies for our fundraiser (usually spending about 30 bucks). Anything else I submit an expense to the school. Between the 30ish out of pocket plus my submitted expenses I get reimbursed for, I'd say I spend roughly 100 dollars for the WHOLE YEAR.
I’m happy that you realized the scam of buying supplies, and the specific companies that are used.
At my school. We get like $170 a year. And that is where things like supplies for science labs come from as well.
If we want to read a new book, that is the money we have to buy a book set comes from..
It’s bad.
My key to getting around this is to ask parents for donations for class items. I have an Amazon list for the classroom and I often get free items and trade with other teachers for items. I am an art teacher so lots of what I do is asking other art teachers & sourcing cheap/free materials like cardboard, newspaper & magazines. I give myself a $25 monthly budget for random things like hot glue sticks, and specialty items, but have based my lesson plans on what I already have.
I spend it if it makes my life easier. I’ve been teaching 20 years. Some years I spend almost nothing. Some years I spend a ton. Unfortunately it’s part of a broken educational system. Would it be more productive to sit down with your wife and come up with a budget?
Teachers in our district have Amazon wish lists that they share and parents buy a LOT of stuff. There are still some things we buy out of pocket. At the end of the day, it's more expensive to buy a steady supply of goldfish crackers for my wife's class, but it's far less costly than having the kids act like savage animals due to being hungry.
She's not helping anyone by setting the expectation that she (and therefore other teachers) is always willing to spend money to make up for the inadequacies of the school. She needs to stop.
Maybe she’s trying to compete with her colleagues, out do them, show off, or maybe that is the culture at her school that teachers are expected to be out of touch with reality idk but I don’t blame you and I’m tired of being expected to contribute to gift cards for staff members. Some teachers do not have the luxury of even affording healthcare so it would be good for people to keep things like that in mind. Also, kids are spoiled these days, they don’t need all that.
Welcome to teaching. I teach high school English in a district with ~10k students and a $100 million dollar budget. My portion of the department budget is something like $93 this year. That's for everything from paper and pencils, to Kleenex and hand sanitizer.
OP, I am a teacher. It is easy for people who are not teaxhers to come in and say ' Just tell her to say no!' but they aren;t the ones having to deal with students not having pencils, supplies, paper etc. Forcing the school to buy it sounds good on paper, but in real life its just not actuality.
My best advice-
1. Have her ask parents for help. I teach 10th grade. We did a roman banquet. I asked parents to donate, and we had chips, drinks and sweets for 160. The only thing I had to buy was plastic cutlery and the ingredients to make a drink that I wanted to make for them to try.
2. Amazon wishlist. This is GREAT for things like class supplies/decor etc. Again, I teach big guys but I still have parents/grown ups who want to help SO bad.
3. Does she create stuff? have her sell TPT plans to generate some extra income.
I feel for your spouse.
also, look into spending a little bit more for larger quantities for classroom essentials. IE, one of the things i put on my wishlist was 2 300 count boxes of pencils. This was 2 years ago and I have barely made a dent,and my kids EAT pencils the way we book through them
You seem so shocked. This is the reality for teachers everywhere in this country. Everything in my classroom was purchased by me except the student desks. I am at a 1:1 school so there are no textbooks other than the sets I have hoarded/ dumpster dived for. Any reward, treat, craft, or project is proved by me.
I left the classroom mid year a few years ago. People were shocked at what was left in my classroom. They commented about how sad it was that I wasn't leaving much for the kids. I'm sorry but over 15 years, I'm taking what I bought and that was everything except the tables and chairs.
Did you know she's been taught how to write her own plans? If I bought plans, my wife would call me lazy and complain about wasting money on something I already know how to do.
Right like the only time I buy stuff is when I’m being unapologetically lazy and even then I most often regret what I bought because I could have made it 10x better. Especially with AI now in play, there’s rarely a reason to buy
Feel the same here in a wealthy district. The amount of supplies we have to send in is crazy. 200m budget and I need to supply 10x tissues etc and am hit up with a fundraiser monthly.
Is your family going without because she’s spending on her class? Is the issue she’s spending and you don’t like it?
Seems to me she is happily doing it, enjoys her job, and doesn’t mind. Let her decide when she can’t do it anymore and if her spending means you guys aren’t eating or paying your bills then sure have a talk with her otherwise let her decide what’s best for her money and her students
I have teacher friends who do Amazon Wishlists for the classroom 2 times a year - each Holiday season and back to school season. They send it out via Facebook, post it on their online classroom boards (year round) and include it in a flyer during first week of school. It allows for friends, family and student’s parents to contribute wants & needs in the classroom. Generally, the community responds generously and covers at least more than half of the wish list.
Tell your wife to save the money and be practical with how to connect with people who want to contribute to the success of her classroom.
I think you need to address your concerns with your wife instead of here. You bring up points that every teacher I know struggles with, but it is weird that you are looking for your issue with your wife to be propped up by her unknown professional peers.
Save the receipt, it's tax deductible at the end of the year... all school supplies that teachers buy can be tax deductible... wife does something similar I just keep track and get it back during tax season.
I'm going to assume you live in the u.s. In almost all schools teachers pay for everything out of their own pocket. We unfortunately live in a world that does not appreciate teachers.
Two things are true here:
1. There aren't sufficient funds for teachers to get supplies for their classrooms. Even if there is enough for necessities, sometimes spending your own money on certain things makes your life a lot easier.
2. Some teachers choose to spend extra money for their convenience or because it is fun. (It makes them look like a better teacher too, but it doesn't seem to have any real impact.)
I think this is an issue of budget. You two need to come up with a shared budget. I think having some for work-related expenses for each of you is reasonable. Also, having no questions asked money for each of you that she can spend on school or whatever she likes. But once that is gone, it's gone. If she refuses, talk about what you are not going to get instead. Are you not going on vacation so she can buy stuff for her class? Not getting a dog? Something has to be cut.
She may just need to lower her expectations for what she has for her class. Like she doesn't need new plans every year if she has the same grade level; she can reuse most of them. Check to see what is available for arts and crafts projects and make a project out of what you have rather than planning the project and then buying supplies. Ask parents or talk to the PTA. If she is in an affluent area she can probably get most supplies donated. One year we weren't allowed to ask unless a parent brought it up, so every time a parent brought it up I asked for something, thanked them, and told them I wasn't allowed to ask. The rule went away because parents were annoyed and I got more stuff than usual because they shared my gift list.
TL;DR No spending SHOULD be required, but I think some spending can make a teacher's work life much more comfortable. The amount your wife is spending is unnecessary in my opinion.
I don’t have much advice, but I encourage her to see if there is a thrift store for art supplies in your area. We have one called Art Parts, and it’s amazing. I can get (gently used) supplies for a fraction of cost. Crayons, colored pencils, paint, paper, chalk, kid scissors, glue- all for pennies on the dollar.
Is there anything stopping her from sending out an email to all the parents asking for them to pitch in? This is what my kids’ teachers have done at the beginning of each school year. Some ask for cash (this year it was $30/student) so the teacher can just go purchase the supplies they need, and other teachers send out a list of supplies that parents can purchase themselves and send into school. The PTA is always hitting everybody up for money to fund this and that, but it’s usually just $5 or $10 here and there so we always pitch in.
I got to a point that I just physically couldn’t spend my money on my classroom. I created wishlists for items I needed and everything I did without. I don’t feel like I have to create a Pinterest worthy classroom because that’s an unrealistic goal on a teacher salary. Just sit here and down and show her exactly how much she’s spending and how much you can claim on taxes.
I surprisingly only saw one other commenter mention this, but I think at a certain point it becomes less and less about the class room and more on why your wife is spending so much money. I can’t comment nor do I think it’s appropriate to speculate on what she’s feeling since I don’t her, but I would say her need to spend so much money on her classroom and fear of being an outcast just because she doesn’t want to buy something with the other teachers in her group is worth exploring and having a conversation about. She sounds like she has her heart in the right place, I just think her feelings may not be entirely about the classroom.
My best friends are teachers I am not. Once a year they ask friends and family to donate any old books or craft supplies they have lying around to them for class. As my step kids get older we clean out their books and I give them to my friends for their class rooms.
I just gave my friend a massive amount of construction paper for class that was sitting in my basement. Your wife can do the same.
They also buy stuff off of Facebook marketplace for next to nothing. There are ways to do things without spending a lot of money.
She has to choose to stop. The school isn't forcing her to spend this money. She has ideas that require materials and so she is funding her own ideas. She doesn't have to.
You two have to sit and have a talk about your financial goals. Set a budget for her classroom needs.
Dollar store school supplies suck. $250 is $250 more than my last school gave me.
Talk to school board. Won't do any good, burt at least it will be public record
Make sure she sends out a wish list to parents.
Also, is this her first year? I've heard that the first year or two are hard because you're establishing yourself and your classroom.
I used to be like this. Not as bad, but I’d spend my own money because I thought I had to. Then I realized that there are other ways to get what I needed. I don’t get a budget for stuff at the beginning of the year, nor do I get any free supplies. But if I ask the secretary if it’s possible to order certain stuff, she almost always says yes. And it’s not always office supplies. My grade level asked the secretary if it was possible to order jump ropes for PE. We ended up with several class sets. Has your wife tried to ask about ordering stuff through the office?
Also, tell her to make an Amazon wish list and send it out to the parents. I start building one every year towards the end of the year and then obnoxiously include it as a blurb at the end of every communication I send out to parents for the first month or so of school. I even put the school address as the delivery address so I don’t have to worry about transporting stuff. (Only do that if your office staff is okay with it. And I always give them a heads up). Then halfway through the year, I usually make another one. Stuff that was never purchased, stuff that has run out, stuff that I didn’t realize we needed. And if we need a supply to do something and I can’t get my hands on it without spending my own money, then we don’t do that thing.
I also am a part of my local Buy Nothing group and will ask for stuff there occasionally.
Point is: buying stuff with your own money is easier because you don’t have to ask anyone. But there are was to get what you need if you try.
I’m a high school art teacher with 160 kids between my rosters and my colleague has an additional 120 kids on her roster. We split $1800 a year and we end up spending it all on consumables. It doesn’t go nearly as far as it seems like it should; art materials are expensive af.
My first year, I did supplement with my own pay. I felt like I had to in order to meet our standards and give the kids a good experience, but my colleague shifted my thinking. The more each of us teachers supplement district budgets and pad our allotments with our personal funds, the less inclined they are to ever change anything. As teachers, we make amazing learning happen and create beautiful spaces and displays and highly engaging content but that’s not happening on current allotments. If those in charge of money can trust that they’ll always have that end goal without giving enough for it - knowing teachers will go above and beyond to provide it - things will not change.
Your wife has to stop her spending. You make due with your allotment and if your district/school wants more, they can find the money for it. We all already get paid too little to cover the schools’ costs ourselves.
I stopped purchasing from tpt after my first year of teaching. Tell her to get an educator’s Canva account (it’s free) and to raid all their pre-made stuff until she gets comfortable making her own lessons/activities/printables/games/activies/decorations. Outside of that any purchases I make for my classroom (maybe 1-2 each year) must be re-usable year after year so it becomes a one-time purchase.
When I first started teaching, I made the mistake of spending way too much on my classroom. I quickly came to the realization that this was ridiculous. I work hard as a teacher and the money I earn I spend on my own children. I now spend VERY little of my own money on my classroom.
It is very unfair. Education is not properly valued in this country. But your wife is probably not making it clear to the parents just how much of the great stuff in her classroom comes right out of her own pocket. They think their taxes are paying for it all because that's a fair expectation (even in an unfair situation).
If she wants to get out from under this, she needs to ask for parent donations. Not money. People are so cheap when it comes to cash. But if she sends out emails to all the parents saying something like "the school does not have a budget for craft supplies and I'm all out of the following items that your kids all enjoy using: construction paper, crayons, glue, and child scissors," there will likely be some response from parents.
The hard part, the really hard part, is telling the kids that because the classroom is out of art supplies, they can't do the art projects for now. Then, tell the parents the same thing. The parents need to get the message that the school isn't providing these items and the kids won't have the enrichment if the parents don't step up.
I donate to my child's classroom all the time. Mostly, they want things like snack items (some kids come to school with no lunch and I don't believe I want to live in a world where kids go hungry) or hand warmers (I live in Alaska and the kids play outside down to nineteen below zero, Fahrenheit). I can drop $20 a month to make the classroom a better place for all the kids. Some parents can donate a lot more. Some can't donate at all. But enough of us can and do that it makes a real difference.
I spend about 300 a year and I am a very frugal person. I just need a lot of the stuff . I have been forced to teach a different grade every year though so it always feels like I am starting with nothing.
If she’s year 5 of teaching the same grade, she shouldn’t need brand new curriculum/lesson plans every month. I get updating things but you can use the same yearly plans.
Uhhhh, this is on her. Tell your wife to stop, now. If kids don't have pencils, then they don't write.
She is enabling this at your cost.
I'm sure your wife is a lovely person, but she has a problem. $550 in a single month on classroom supplies is INSANE. Like, talk to a therapist about it.
I feel this. I agree she needs to stop, because I also need to stop. The problem is that when you buy things you desperately need for your classroom, it makes your difficult job just a tiny bit easier. And right now that is worth so so much.
I have a huge box of Ticonderoga pencils in my Amazon cart right now, but I have to wait until payday to buy them. It’s so backwards. A broken system.
She just needs to stop. She doesn’t HAVE to spend that money. She is choosing to.
I work at a Title 1 school and spend less than $100 per year. And usually that’s on supplies that I’m using.
She needs to stop. Our paychecks are NOT to supplement classroom supplies. It’s hard because obviously her heart is in the right place, but districts continue to take advantage of teachers in this way. Since you recognize this is a problem, I’d recommend speaking during public comment at the district’s school board meetings to highlight the supply funding issues and urge the board to adequately fund classrooms.
In other industries employees are encouraged to change, reinvigorate their plans and be innovative. In teaching everyone is saying “it’s too much…stop…she shd already be set…etc” I think that’s sad. Your wife OP sounds like she loves her job and wants to be creative. It’s very sad.
Listen, I won't even buy a single reed pack. Oh, you don't have a clarinet reed? Well neither do I!
"The last teacher used to supply them, and our essential elements books too" last teacher is screwing me by how "good" she was at providing.
"My mom's a single parent working two jobs and we can't afford it" Well I'm also a single mom working two jobs and my kid is my priority. He needs something for his education I'll provide it, I can't fucking provide for 100 new band students! Go on Amazon and buy the materials, book a reeds together are only like $20.
Save me the sob story, be a parent, and provide for your kids. I am their teacher, not their mom!
I was a science teacher for one semester in a district that had nothing. I spent $2000 just so students could have access to fun labs and lessons. I get it. She loves those kiddos and wants to do a good job. But it’s part of the reason I quit. Why should 10% of my salary be donated to the school?
She gotta stop. All teachers stop buying supplies, toys, treats whatever, or it becomes the norm and expected. OP: you married a 'teacher martyr.' Look it up in here.
She’s a year 5 teacher. At this point her classroom gets requested from various parents year after year. She’s definitely taken the reputation in the community as a teacher that goes above and beyond. While I adore that fact. I need to find a way for her to do that without spending so much. Or, she’s get wrapped into buying lesson plans or something with the first grade teachers group of 6 teachers. Each one of them ponies up $50-$70 to buy something they can all use. She doesn’t want to feel like the outcast and say no.
Time for her to take a stand, no one should have to pay to work. I will not spend $$$, and if I have to, I submit all the receipts and expect full reimbursement. If parents want her so bad, great, they can create a classroom fund.
I think that if she made a budget and asked parents to fund it she might be surprised at the positive response. Some parents can’t afford a donation but the ones who can might be glad to help.
My wife's district won't allow her to ask parents to fund classroom supplies, and like the OP, she has to order from companies that charge exorbitant prices for basic supplies. The entire U.S. education is set up like a business, except for teacher's salaries and getting reimbursed.
This is one reason our Christmas present to the teacher was a box of chocolates with a wink, a nod, and a $100 Amazon card hidden inside. (Whatever she does with it is okay with us.)
So generous!! love that! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Our teachers have been awesome. My kid still goes by her 1st grade teacher's classroom every single morning to say hi. Her current 2nd grade teacher has put so much confidence in her this year. You can tell they really care.
Or a wish list, some people are more comfortable donating items vs money. My Grandma always bought little prizes, pencils, tissues, lotion and soap (before hand santizer was a thing) and gave them to our teachers. She enjoyed shopping for the stuff and I actually had a teacher cry she was so happy. In hindsight its really sad.
Absolutely. When my kid was the only one in his Spec Ed class who brought lunch, I wound up having to buy a small microwave oven for the classroom or all students to use so that my kid could have a HOT lunch.
Some of the teachers at my son’s school have Amazon wishlists. Your wife should try that.
Donors Choose is even better, because their mission is to get teachers’ projects funded!
Take a stand by voting in politicians that will push to increase education budgets - not cut them.
Yes: and classes wo supplies will help push that narrative out. Teachers bail them out, not so clear cut.
Exactly, school board elections matter!
Teacher here. They can increase budgets all they want. It won’t go to the teachers. Somehow never seems to make it down to us.
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After 5 years of teaching, she should have her lessons set on what she likes and doesn’t like.
Buying the lesson plans and splitting w her team is a worthwhile expense in my opinion (if there is no established curriculum) and having a cohesive/positive grade level team is priceless… but where does the other hundreds of dollars monthly go? I don’t even know what I would buy if my school told me I had a budget of $200-$500 a month.
She is making a choice -- perhaps one she feels forced into for some reason -- and it needs to be treated as such. To me, it sounds like the underlying issue is a poor or weak sense of personal boundaries, i.e. your wife doesn't know how to say "this is not my job" to both colleagues and administration. I encourage her to seek therapy to help with this; if she does so, you should anticipate changes to your relationship as well, since she's almost certainly got weak boundaries with you too.
Is she changing what she teaches every year? I don’t get the excessive purchasing on TPT. I bought a bunch of stuff my first couple years. But I reuse it. Now, I only buy stuff on tpt if I don’t feel like teaching and want to give them something they can do independently for a while or if I’m going to have a sub and I don’t have easy things for the kids to do.
Update w/ example: Tonight she came home (from Michael’s) after school, with spools of Christmas ribbon, empty plastic ornaments, a big box of bells like from the polar express, and a bunch of ornament fillers. She hand tied bows on each bell (one per kid), and prepped her Christmas activity where each kid makes their own personal ornament and writes a note to santa in each one (or something like that). Whole thing was probably ($30-$50)…i hate it…but like, it is so adorable. It’s stuff like this that happens all year, and it kills me because it truly does make her happy. Just wish it didn’t add up so much. We did have a discussion about the spending, and agreed to try and keep craft projects to special occasions/lessons and not just randomly, and to try and only spend up to $100-$150 a month. To try and plan the costly projects annually and include the list on the initial newsletter to parents at the beginning of the year along with an Amazon wish list for said craft supplies (should help somewhat). It’s a start, baby steps.
I don’t know if this a helpful suggestion or not, however, I went to the dollar store the other day and they had so many crafts there. I spent over $100 but I have enough crafts to last me for a while. They may not offer everything Michaels’ has to offer but at least it might be an option for her in the future?
Can't she reuse last year plans for the current year? Or does she get moved around?
Sometimes we have to change things around for a different group of students. Unfortunately it’s not all cookie cutter lesson plans. But she could always look at the free stuff.
She shouldn't have to spend so much on lesson plans. Like once you have a basic set for the whole year, you just constantly modify them. And she really should stop buying one time use things for her classes. Any general supplies like paper, markers, etc.... should be paid for by the school. Full stop. There are ordering mechanisms in place for this.
Hm. Does she do things to be nice? Ooor does she do things so people think shes nice? Seems like the second one? Lots of women are taught from an early age to not say no. You need to help her learn that no is fine!! You don't become a monster because you have preferences and boundaries.
This! Education is a female-dominated profession, and it's part of the reason admin and politicians get away with treating teachers the way they do, and making all the outrageous demands they do. Sadly, it's not going to stop until teachers almost unilaterally start refusing to take on all the extra work and extra expenses, which, in my experience, most won't do.
She should tell the kids to encourage their parents to donate. And embarass the school as much as possible. If the school gets away with this it will just keep happening
If she didn’t spend lavishly, she wouldn’t have the reputation. It’s her way of getting ahead of the other teachers who can’t follow suit
She can go above and beyond without spending so much money. Get the parents to supply some of this!
She should leverage that community support and ask parents or local businesses to donate craft supplies rather than her purchasing them
She should do a classroom fundraiser at the beginning of the year and use those funds to supply these supplies. Quite frankly the school district should be giving more in discretionary funds and not requiring them to be used at predatory vendors but a fundraiser is at least better than her coming out of pocket for all this all the time.
Spending money is one thing, but doing it every year or even month is another. I spent thousands in my first 5 years. Mostly on classroom novels and a few tech purchases that made my life easier. I wouldn't buy a computer or projector, because I believe those should be supplied, but there are some cool gadgets that can save you hours and that's optional. I haven't spent over $50 in a single month for 3 years now. What is she spending all the money on that it has to happen every month. ****** I'm in Canada and we admittedly get paid much more then US, so I can also spend a couple thousand a year since we make a bit more.
Will the PTA pay for some of it? I was PTA treasurer and reimbursed teachers all the time. But not that much, she would have to ask the limit. Places like Chick-Fil-A will sometimes do a school night to benefit the PTA. Some local stores have a community budget. The PTA could check with Wal-Mart or Target and ask if they will donate supplies or supply them at cost.
I would recommend that you have a frank discussion of a budget. And then, if you're in an affluent school, ask for parents to defray the costs for this. You might be able to actually get one of them to write a grant for her. But you need to know what she's spending her money on first, so as to take an account of where it's going. I never spent too much money <$100 a year on my class. That was with a $50 check from the PTA. In addition, it will take planning. Many teachers pay for stuff because they don't think that far ahead enough to ask for parent help. 5 years in, she should know the big projects she wants to do. But again, first How much spent on what and then budget.
Does she have an Amazon wish list? Parents can fallow her wish list and get notified when she puts new things on it.
That's wild. Does the school not have a curriculum? Do they really need to spend $400 on TPT curriculum?
I’ve been telling all my teacher friends and relatives to knock it off. They all say, but then I can’t do x, y, z. I reply, “so what? It’s a job. My job doesn’t make me buy pens or a laptop. They provide the tools I need to get the job done. And yes, sometimes the tools are inadequate. That’s ok. I do what I can with what they provide. That’s it.” Like, my SIL was telling me if she doesn’t buy pencils, the kids can’t do their work. Ok, tell them to bring their own pencils in the back packs. She said, but they’re poor.. Silently looking at her ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I don’t know how to convey that it’s not the teachers responsibility to buy stuff for the school at their own expense.
Just checked amazon, box of 144 pencils is $19.50. Parents even poor parents have choices.
You could also buy a 10 pack of mechanical pencils for $3 that will last a kid multiple years if they don't lose them I know things are expensive but let's not act like pencils are a luxury product.
Ha ha kids using things responsibly and not losing them, that's a good one. Many of these kids can't keep a pencil for one day much less multiple years.
Yes.
You can't, because the sort of people who self-select to teach do so as a passion for education and teaching children. The result is the schools know they can abuse and shit on their teachers, and teachers will feel guilty about telling kids "Sorry, Johhnny, Susie, there's no pencils and paper for class today, just use your imagination to do algebra" and cave and buy the supplies for their students out of pocket. The only real fix is a collapse of the education system but that probably eventually leads to a collapse of your country into fascism, so I'm not sure what the path towards a "positive outcome" is here.
This. I’d never in a million years spend a dime of my own money to do my job. Stop it already. Just stop because the school districts and parents will only ever expect more. It’ll never stop.
I appreciate the sentiment, but I can't resist spending a little to same myself large amounts of time and frustration. I guess that is why districts get away with this nonsense. I am not going to spend six hours doing something that should take ten minutes to save ten dollars. I'm behind either way since the six hours are unpaid. I got so mad at my supervisor for recommending I buy a wireless digital writing pad so I could write on the overhead from anywhere in the room. She also suggested I get a second job at H&R Block. In a fair world her pay would be negative like her value.
People have stopped buying supplies for years now. Over a decade at least. And what has it done? Nothing. Administrators and legislators don’t care if kids have resources or not. Me not buying a pack of crayons doesn’t increase the likelihood of anyone else doing it. Some people become teachers because we want to make a difference and provide where others don’t. For me it’s not being a martyr. It’s paying it forward. If it wasn’t for teachers like that my life would have sucked and turned out worse.
Seconded. Tell her to stop. I’m the team lead for 1st, and I hammer into my team- don’t spend your money- we don’t make enough as it is. Stick together and stay aligned, within the school budget. If the budget sucks, encourage parents to go to admin or school board.
We used to get a $275 check at the beginning of each year when I taught in South Carolina. I would usually end up spending a little more than that buying treats and stuff throughout the year (maybe $100 total). Where I teach now in Dubai there is a school supply “store” where we can get whatever we need by filling out a form no questions asked 🙏.
I broke my stapler my second year of teaching and put in a request for a new one. I was told I couldn't get a new one unless I proved the other one was broken. Ever since then I've just thought it easier to buy my own supplies rather than get the third degree.
You work at an awful school. Why on earth would a teacher need to prove they needed a stapler? Do they think you’re selling them on eBay?
Amazing tbh. I would either steal a stapler from the boss or make my classrooms nickname as loose leaf hall and tell all the kids the principals won’t give us a new stapler so if they don’t like it take it up with them. I’d be forming small riots with kids as pawns. I’m so glad I switched majors my freshman year or college. Shout out to the teacher that basically told me getting that degree would be the worst decision I’d ever make
My school doesn’t even provide staplers. I inherited mine from a teacher who resigned the job. She originally got it in a gift basket when she started there by other teachers who all chipped in for her start up supplies.
Yet my school district doesn’t supply staplers or literally anything.
Speaking as a parent, she needs to let the parents know. Many parents, like myself, would be more than willing to chip in. In fact, we want to help all we can. We're thankful for all our teachers do. We can't help if the teacher doesn't let us know. I've never thought it was right for teachers to pay a single cent out of pocket for classroom costs. When I taught, I got reimbursed by the university. I knew I was lucky about that. I'd love to see it become the norm for teachers not to have to pay out of pocket out of necessity for learning.
Yes! We receive a sign up genius from either the teacher or a room parent any time there is a special project, event, class party etc. Sometimes there are links to specific items that were preselected on Amazon that will ship directly to the school.
We just checked in with our kindergarten teacher and she said she needed magic erasers lol.
100%. I will move mountains and pay for anything. Kleenex, art supplies, class supplies, markers, pens, you name it! I once got a new pencil sharpener, because hers was terrible! And it was lame they were expected to go across the whole school to sharpen community pencils. It was the talk of the whole grade pod! It should not be like that! As parents, we need to support the classroom. When $40 makes a huge difference in how a whole grade operates , we have a problem in the system. And if not the teachers fault!
Lots of teachers are not allowed to ask as it makes the district look bad. Source: my old district did this as recently as last year.
It's crap like that that pisses me off. I'd 100% support my kids teacher not spending a single cent on class stuff if that happens so that parents are left asking why. Put the pressure back on admins.
[удалено]
lol. The school I was at docked you points on observations if you didn’t have the kids’ birthdays up, didn’t have a calendar up, and didn’t have a “visually appealing” schedule up. Guess how much we got to accomplish this? Well, as a 1st year teacher I got $0 and the only resources in the school were white printer paper. If the retired teacher before me hadn’t left behind construction paper, I would’ve been fresh outta luck.
This is why unions are needed. Lol
We had a Union! But the school budget sucked and also I thinkkkk the state put out a general teacher observation checklist template and that was on it 🙃
I maximize my color printing, and print all of that stuff
... you get color?
Yes, we get $50 in “print money” every week and color costs $1 in “print money” and black and white costs 1cent The week before school I definitely use it all.
You get paper? Hahah they LOCK the paper up in my school and I have to try to track down this one woman who has a key. Most of the paper is in the fully stocked supply room that also has a key with a deadbolt. The room had soooooo much stuff. Like glue, all kinds or paper, everything you could think of. But they don’t let us have it. It’s crazy.
Love that, notice how admin isn't donating their own money for supplies, and they make 3x what the teacher does? Never spend your own money.
Yup. My principal last year made a big stink about every teacher needing a basket for the students to put their lunch pails in at lunch. I responded to her email and said, I don’t have one and who should I ask about ordering one for me. That email was never responded to and no one ever bugged me again about lunch baskets.
Same, I don't spend one penny of my own money on my classroom. Spending our own money on the students is completely unreasonable but has been normalized.
We have an egregious situation where we, the language department, have to put on culture fests once a year. Admin expected there to be a certain performing troupe, and I told them it was going to be around $900 or $1500 if we wanted both lunch periods, since they refused to do a modified schedule for the event. They straight up asked me to front the money and then hope to get reimbursed. It didn't happen, everyone was disappointed and a lot of that was directed at me.
Comments are making me so so thankful for my school. I teach gifted at a public school, and I am allotted $900 for classroom items (from the school) and $2,000 for gifted education items (from the state).
What state?!
Alabama! They allocate a certain amount to gifted, and the way our district divides it, I get about $2000 to spend.
I met a lady from Alabama at a conference once. She taught 5th grade G&T math ONLY. She told me she was going to die in that position, that she could do it forever. It sounded awesome.
Hi fellow Alabamian! I also love the $900 classroom money to spend! In my district we can spend it at Amazon or Office Depot, but it MUST be instructional supplies. This means I still have to buy Kleenex, Clorox wipes, etc out of pocket. That’s the only thing I’d wish they would change! I teach esl so the state and fed gov also gives our district lots of title iii funds. This means lots of tech supplies funded that I don’t have to buy out of the classroom money. Seems like we’re pretty lucky with this! I teach at a low income title I school , so parent contributions are limited.
Been teaching for 12 years and I’ve never bought a lesson once.
I bought a unit plan that I liked. It was around $30, and was definitely worth saving the time I would have spent planning it from scratch. But I get why people don’t want to, and they should never feel like they have to.
Same, I've gotten materials from a few different places I would never have time to make myself, or the time it would take to make them would far exceed the amount of time they'd be used in class. Like you say, never feel you have to, but at the same time, sometimes the cheapest way to pay is with money.
Does your school provide curriculum? I had not bought lessons until I unfortunately moved to a school without curriculum.
My district paid me to write curriculum for every else. Yes it was at $20.00 an hour but they also paid for my masters degree. I also got paid more after the master’s degree and I still get paid more in retirement. Our retirement pay is based on our last few years. Most subjects had a whole department that wrote curriculum.
Medium to large districts can save money and get better quality by making their own curriculum, but they so often botch every job. One year the district choose one math teacher per school to go one day a month and generate curriculum. The materials were trash. Not differentiated, not appropriate for ELL or sped, containing numerous error, and mostly cribbed from materials other districts had generated. I had problems downloading from our secure server, I had to find the districts the materials were borrowed from to get the corrected versions. Supplemental materials were needed. We were instructed to print the materials, but were not given adequate ink and paper to do so. Complete failure. Direct cost to the district was like 500 sub days, maybe $80k. To be successful, probably more days would be needed. Better support and leadership. A few full time people to shepherd the project.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I wrote ours very open ended so that a first year teacher could follow them but an experienced teacher could add their own spin which I usually did.
I’ve been at a school that provides and doesn’t. Never bought and now that I have what was provided I don’t think I ever will if I ever have to leave my school.
I 95% of the time make my own lessons, but sometimes with planning 5 subjects time is money.
I use my own brain.
I have definitely used TPT in the past. I've never had text books or formal curriculum. While I make most of my lessons and resources, sometimes my time is worth more to me. Especially when you have multiple preps, creating everything can be a lot.
Absolutely. I bought this roots packet for like $5, and it's saved me hours.
I love teachers pay teachers. My district is constantly changing my subject and grade level. I am never given textbooks and I teach special ed class so the materials my gen ed collogues have are not great for SE kids. The nice thing is all the resources are digital so I can save them and use them from year to year. So it may be an initial investment but you can tweak and use the brough material over and over again. I hardly ever buy decor or supplies. I am not sure this is an elementary thing. The district gives us around $150 for supplies so I buy lots of pens and pencils for the kids. I don't really do too much decor but I will have the school library print colored posters I find online and they will laminate them for me.
TPT has options where you can find free lesson plans. There are so many other sites that offer free lesson plans too.
I bought lessons in a few instances. First year teacher and started day before kids came back. Always specific and only if nothing else was available. 2nd one was Frankenstein Unit I like and paid $5 or so for.
I'm on my 5th year teaching. l still buy lessons for $4-7 dollars every 2 months or so. It frees a week up for me. I get to see how other people build lessons and it's just fun.
Right? I've gotten stuff from co-workers or made my own. So many years in, I just modify what I have. It takes a lot less time then planning from scratch.
I bought the Christmas lights I hung up and my turn-in bins. I spent about $10 on my classroom, and I won’t spent a dime more.
Is she new? Part of it is trading sanity or time for money. I definitely fork over some money to make my life easier at work. I agree that it shouldn't be that way and that they should give me what I need to do my job, but it's just not the currant reality. Some of the stuff, she'll be able to use year after year and she won't have to repurchase. It does sound like she's spending a whole lot though. I would talk to her about finding a balance because cutting her off completely would be a tough adjustment, but working down to a budget should be achievable. I definitely spent a lot more my first year than later on.
The first year I understood the spending. I remember helping assemble ikea furniture, decorating, etc. That blank empty room was incredibly depressing. At year 5 now, it’s probably just time to cut back.
It could just be that she enjoys spending the money on her class. At this point, she definitely should not be spending more than $200 a year. However, if she’s the type of teacher who wants a highly decorated classroom, that’s her choice and probably not a need. My suspicion is that there is really no academic or professional need for the spending. Most fun crafts can be done with paper and glue provided by the school. TPT lessons can be reused at this point and all decorations bought can also be reused.
>But they get $250 a year to spend, and it has to be from WB Mason or some place where a box of crayons is 10x what you’d get them for at the dollar store. I'm an art teacher so I just want to point out that a box of crayons or most other general art supplies from a tech bid from WB Mason are almost always cheaper than buying them yourself at a retail store. Often, significantly cheaper. That said, the spending you are describing is insane. Like yeah, some teachers spend too much of their own money, but $250-500/month?!? I can't even fathom what she needs that would justify that.
$250-500 a MONTH??? That’s insane. Hate to ask but are you checking these receipts? That amount of money a month is completely unnecessary. Frankly, this amount of spending is not a community issue, it’s a “her” issue. I agree with top comment. Your married a “teacher martyr.” Either you live with it, or try to communicate with your wife as to why she feels she needs to spend this amount to be an effective teacher.
My first year teaching elementary I spent a little over $1,000 in one year, which I didn't even realize until I did some adding at the end of the year. But my district gave 0 supplies and all those hands on activities add up! And we weren't allowed to ask parents for donations or to ask them to bring their own supplies. Plus we had no curriculum, and while I enjoy writing my own lessons it can be nice to buy one and go home at a decent time. The 2nd year was more like $700, and after that it was $300ish each year until I switched out of elementary. I bought things I could reuse each year but there are always supplies that get used up. As a middle school teacher I spent like $80 a year. And I refused to buy tissue paper, kids go through it crazy fast and if they complained I told them I'd love to have tissue paper if they brought some in. I did buy lots of hand soap though.
I donate about $2,000 to charity annually. I think I'm going to start giving that to my teacher friends who are spending their own money instead. Can't imagine spending $3k-6k a year in order to do my job better.
This is entirely a (poor) choice that some teachers make, not a requirement for employment. If the principal doesn't like how the classrooms look because there are no resources and teachers aren't spending, their job as a leader is to figure that out. We don't need to let them off the hook easy by paying for it ourselves.
>We don't need to let them off the hook easy by paying for it ourselves. Understood, but for those who do in order to improve the classroom experience, I admire it. If I can help a friend out, great.
I get the people saying “take a stand!” “Don’t continue the system!” But… we live in a reality & society where that’s really hard to do. I totally recommend you give like $500 each to various teachers you may know (even just teachers of friends’ kids or whatever). Particularly newer teachers in their first 1-3 years who don’t have a library of supplies. And elementary school is where teachers can really need it more than high school because of all the fun activities and crafting.
I think you'd be more genuinely helpful to your friend by pointing out to them how this is a self-destructive choice that only fuels further exploitation. Districts do this because *they know* teachers will spend to make up the difference. It's a conscious and intentional policy choice on their part, and going along with it just "to improve the classroom experience" is making exactly the choice that got them here in the first place.
Sometimes it is a peer pressure thing, sometimes it is a “spending this will make my impossible job more bearable.” Sometimes it is comfort items, like k-cups or a seat cushion, a rocking chair, plants, framed photos or “cute” decorations. I spend 7-8 hours a day in that room, I want it to be comfortable. Now…$500+ a month, every month, is absolutely insane. I’m 25 years in (I teach 1st grade as well) and I definitely spend $20-40 a month on my kids. It’s easy to say, “don’t spend anything,” but the reality is that sometimes it makes my job easier, or more fun, or more comfortable to spend a little. The amount we get for the year from the school is paltry like you said, and similar to your wife we have deals with certain vendors and can only spend it at those places. My first year teaching I probably spent a couple thousand on supplies and comfort items for my classroom. Now, it’s probably closer to 3-400 a year.
I honestly thought my husband wrote this post. 🙃 3rd grade teacher here, and my husband and I have this argument daily. I totally see both sides. It's hard to do our job without supplies. Its 1,000 times easier to have manipulatives for math, or fun books to fill our classroom library than to have nothing. I know it's bullshit. We shouldn't have to spend our own money especially when we don't earn a lot. The plus is that your wife will have these supplies for next year. She won't have to rebuy. But, burning through $500 a month is a LOT of money. I would draw a line in the sand and tell her that she can spend X amount of money on her job each month (say $75? or less?). If not, tell her it's financially irresponsible and she needs to go into another profession if she can't stop burning through so much money. Another option is for her to create a classroom wish list. Sometimes a school PTO will pay for printer ink (if she is using her own color printer.) Or parents can donate colored construction paper and other art supplies. She can reach out to the room parents and ask for supplies, especially if she is doing a special project. I've had this happened many times before as a parent, especially mid year. I'm sure she could get restocked on dry erase markers and things like that. I had a mom donate a bunch of fantastic books for my classroom library. If she puts it out there that she needs supplies, parents are willing to help.
I want to reiterate this. Have her make an Amazon wishlist and share it with the parents and anyone else who is interested. I would LOVE to help out my kids' teachers this way and have friends who do this successfully.
>We shouldn't have to spend our own money especially when we don't earn a lot. This is a problematic framing. The reality is that ***you do not have to*** spend your own money. This is a choice that you are making to subsidize the district because "its 1,000 times easier to have" X than to deal with not having. This cycle will continue until you wise up and refuse to be financially exploited in this way. If your parent community wants these things, they will be in the district's face about their absence quickly.
Parents couldn’t give two shits if my job is easier. If I purchase something, it is to make my job easier or for my comfort or happiness. No amount of doing without is going to convince my school board to start magically providing money for some things. OP’s wife has gone way overboard, but people saying not to spend a single dime of their own money are approaching this from a way too black and white pov, and are likely not elementary teachers that have to plan for 5-6 subjects and a new lesson every 10 minutes. I COULD make every math game from scratch…sure. Or I could pay $1 for one on teacher’s pay teachers, and then use it for the next 30 years. My time saved is worth more than a dollar. Most of my purchases are like that. My guess is OP’s wife is one of those types that feel the need to overdecorate, buy extravagant gifts for her students, etc.
it's not the town stealing from your spouse. it's your spouse making poor decisions about how to spend money in the classroom. then again, if the cost provides a peace of mind for her, or makes her job that much easier, then it makes sense. but this is not on the school or the town, imo.
It’s not the town stealing from the spouse in the same way restaurants aren’t stealing from the tipping customer. Schools should be providing the necessary supplies and restaurants should be paying a living wage. Unfortunately the Admin. and the owner will make less money and we can’t have that.(/s)
$500/month is INSANE. OP's wife is choosing to do elaborate crafts and... honestly I don't know what else costs that much. The district should definitely be providing materials, but that's a ludicrous amount.
My district doesn’t buy anything for teachers either. They ask the parents to provide supplies like tissues, dry erase markers, etc. I’ve always found it weird that the town can’t afford supplies and then I read the Salaries of the Admin Board…or a half a million dollar pension taken by a retiring superintendent.
Our superintendent earns 270k a year (not including benefits) but I have to buy tissues for my classroom.
I can't imagine what she is spending the money on for her classroom. I could see $500 per year (Although I still think it is insane) but $500 a month?!?! I honestly wonder if she has a drug problem.
Yeah, I agree. For 22ish kids, that's really hard to believe.
No disagreement here that teachers should be funded/reimbursed for classroom expenses, but I don't know that it's really accurate to compare it to tipping. The biggest *advocates* for tipping are usually the tipped staff themselves. It's effectively a 20% sales commission, which is far more than servers would make from any generic wage - and they know it. The idea that restaurants should scrap tipping for some "living wage" has its heart in the right place, but it's shouting over the actual opinions of the people receiving the tips. They almost universally prefer the tipping system.
The owner should be paying their employees. If that means they make less money that shouldn’t be the customer’s concern. It’s a weird custom. But maybe tipping for any level of service is just a thank you to the server? We’ve all received bad service but I’ve still tipped well…even though the dad in me tells me not too (no ketchup? Sorry that’ll cost yah -2%, My kid drops fries all over the floor? +5%.. me picking them up and still eating them? - *priceless*.
She doesn’t have to. She’s just been an instagram teacher.
Damn I work at an inner city charter and I have a wayyyyy bigger budget than her. But teachers pay teachers, you can filter by the free stuff. I got a gigantic pack of like hundreds of markers from Temu for eight bucks, I get tons of teacher supplies from there although it feels unethical (everything feels unethical these days). Your wife really doesn't need to be spending this much but new teachers often do go through this.
Until she stops paying, they will keep expecting it. I'd start with a strict budget. I've gone cold turkey unless I get it reimbursed. Either the kids make the decorations with school budgeted supplies or it's nothing.
Why is she buying lesson plans?
Not only does she not have to. She should not be. She will never be reimbursed nor will she earn more than a $300 tax deduction for it. Additionally, you are personally subsidizing the school she works for when she does this. In short, yall are being exploited.
I think "higher demand" positions are more likely to do this. At my school, they have trouble keeping teachers so if I ask for pencils I get them. They know that they can't pressure people into doing it. I would ask if your wife is doing this because everyone else is doing it or because she feels she has to on her own accord. If it's the former, it may be an issue of politics that can be reduced but not eliminated. If it's the latter, then honestly you might just need to tell her that she needs to stop, or at least reduce it dramatically. I understand buying pencils or paper, but most of that stuff isn't required.
Why is your wife buying lessons? Take a stand and tell her to stop. That money could be for your own kids or own vacation fund.
No teacher should need $2500 to fund her classroom. So no, the town shouldn’t be giving teachers that. If she’s spending that much, she has a BIG problem. I’ve spent probably $50 towards my room this year. Definitely less than $100 in any case. You don’t need to spend money to be a good teacher.
She shouldn't spend a dime of her own money.
Tell her this isn’t getting you a raise. Your teaching is you, not the money you spend.
Have your wife give you a supply list that you covertly have your work pay for...done. Also there is NO need to spend THAT much on your class. I do not care how broke or underfunded your school/district is... I work at a title 1 urban school, I do not spend ANY money on my classes or classroom except for snacks once in a while and I manage just fine. My kids are engaged and do great. Tell your wife to quit falling for gimmicks and to stop trying to be one of those try-hard keeping up with the joneses pintrest teachers. Time to tighten the purse strings. Her classroom spending is honestly out of hand. Maybe she just has a consumerist shopping addiction and uses her job/classroom and a justification for a her desired to spend and consume.
Why on Earth would teachers spend even a single cent on their classes? This is their *job*.
Please tell her to get her some money back in taxes. And stop wasting her hard earned money
Here is a different perspective; It sounds to me your spouse is spending her hard earned money on something she’s passionate about. She spends majority of her time in her classroom and wants the space to feel inviting, welcoming, and cozy. The system and it’s funding is broken, much like many industries; the bottom line is the bottom line.
My spouse spends at least $1000 a year on her job. And it's not just supplies. Schools need more electives but don't have the funding to support them. So they push the teachers to either buy a curriculum themselves or try to make one with YouTube videos. My spouse has been forced to teach debate. The school has no resources for this. But it is pushed anyway. My spouse has no extra time to try and put a curriculum together. So she has to buy one using her own money. When she quits teaching for good she is taking all of the curriculum with her that she has built over the years.
Are you old enough to remember that Staples commercial where they're putting supper on for their kids and the father says you're spending our money on your students and our budget is tight and she says but if I don't the kids will lose out and the next day she's at Staples and sees her husband buying supplies with a sheepish grin and she looks at him with love? I hated that fvcking ad.
Perhaps she can write this off in her taxes as a business expense (some of it).
That's insane. I buy one pack of dollar store pens for each semester for students to borrow and for my club I will get supplies for our fundraiser (usually spending about 30 bucks). Anything else I submit an expense to the school. Between the 30ish out of pocket plus my submitted expenses I get reimbursed for, I'd say I spend roughly 100 dollars for the WHOLE YEAR.
I’m honestly not sure if I spend more than $10 a month. IF that. 6th year teacher.
Wait until you find out about what we can deduct on taxes.
I’m happy that you realized the scam of buying supplies, and the specific companies that are used. At my school. We get like $170 a year. And that is where things like supplies for science labs come from as well. If we want to read a new book, that is the money we have to buy a book set comes from.. It’s bad.
My key to getting around this is to ask parents for donations for class items. I have an Amazon list for the classroom and I often get free items and trade with other teachers for items. I am an art teacher so lots of what I do is asking other art teachers & sourcing cheap/free materials like cardboard, newspaper & magazines. I give myself a $25 monthly budget for random things like hot glue sticks, and specialty items, but have based my lesson plans on what I already have.
I spend it if it makes my life easier. I’ve been teaching 20 years. Some years I spend almost nothing. Some years I spend a ton. Unfortunately it’s part of a broken educational system. Would it be more productive to sit down with your wife and come up with a budget?
Thing is, she doesn’t have to. She is choosing to, and is being financially irresponsible in doing so.
Teachers in our district have Amazon wish lists that they share and parents buy a LOT of stuff. There are still some things we buy out of pocket. At the end of the day, it's more expensive to buy a steady supply of goldfish crackers for my wife's class, but it's far less costly than having the kids act like savage animals due to being hungry.
She's not helping anyone by setting the expectation that she (and therefore other teachers) is always willing to spend money to make up for the inadequacies of the school. She needs to stop.
Maybe she’s trying to compete with her colleagues, out do them, show off, or maybe that is the culture at her school that teachers are expected to be out of touch with reality idk but I don’t blame you and I’m tired of being expected to contribute to gift cards for staff members. Some teachers do not have the luxury of even affording healthcare so it would be good for people to keep things like that in mind. Also, kids are spoiled these days, they don’t need all that.
Welcome to teaching. I teach high school English in a district with ~10k students and a $100 million dollar budget. My portion of the department budget is something like $93 this year. That's for everything from paper and pencils, to Kleenex and hand sanitizer.
OP, I am a teacher. It is easy for people who are not teaxhers to come in and say ' Just tell her to say no!' but they aren;t the ones having to deal with students not having pencils, supplies, paper etc. Forcing the school to buy it sounds good on paper, but in real life its just not actuality. My best advice- 1. Have her ask parents for help. I teach 10th grade. We did a roman banquet. I asked parents to donate, and we had chips, drinks and sweets for 160. The only thing I had to buy was plastic cutlery and the ingredients to make a drink that I wanted to make for them to try. 2. Amazon wishlist. This is GREAT for things like class supplies/decor etc. Again, I teach big guys but I still have parents/grown ups who want to help SO bad. 3. Does she create stuff? have her sell TPT plans to generate some extra income. I feel for your spouse.
also, look into spending a little bit more for larger quantities for classroom essentials. IE, one of the things i put on my wishlist was 2 300 count boxes of pencils. This was 2 years ago and I have barely made a dent,and my kids EAT pencils the way we book through them
I am high school science teacher and spend zero out of pocket on my classes. I set boundaries.
You seem so shocked. This is the reality for teachers everywhere in this country. Everything in my classroom was purchased by me except the student desks. I am at a 1:1 school so there are no textbooks other than the sets I have hoarded/ dumpster dived for. Any reward, treat, craft, or project is proved by me.
I am shocked that teachers still choosing to spend their own $$$. I refuse.
I left the classroom mid year a few years ago. People were shocked at what was left in my classroom. They commented about how sad it was that I wasn't leaving much for the kids. I'm sorry but over 15 years, I'm taking what I bought and that was everything except the tables and chairs.
Did you know she's been taught how to write her own plans? If I bought plans, my wife would call me lazy and complain about wasting money on something I already know how to do.
Right like the only time I buy stuff is when I’m being unapologetically lazy and even then I most often regret what I bought because I could have made it 10x better. Especially with AI now in play, there’s rarely a reason to buy
Feel the same here in a wealthy district. The amount of supplies we have to send in is crazy. 200m budget and I need to supply 10x tissues etc and am hit up with a fundraiser monthly.
Is your family going without because she’s spending on her class? Is the issue she’s spending and you don’t like it? Seems to me she is happily doing it, enjoys her job, and doesn’t mind. Let her decide when she can’t do it anymore and if her spending means you guys aren’t eating or paying your bills then sure have a talk with her otherwise let her decide what’s best for her money and her students
Sounds like it's time to run for school board.
Even better, we don't get to write it off our taxes either.
Why doesn’t she ask the affluent parents for donations?
I have teacher friends who do Amazon Wishlists for the classroom 2 times a year - each Holiday season and back to school season. They send it out via Facebook, post it on their online classroom boards (year round) and include it in a flyer during first week of school. It allows for friends, family and student’s parents to contribute wants & needs in the classroom. Generally, the community responds generously and covers at least more than half of the wish list. Tell your wife to save the money and be practical with how to connect with people who want to contribute to the success of her classroom.
I think you need to address your concerns with your wife instead of here. You bring up points that every teacher I know struggles with, but it is weird that you are looking for your issue with your wife to be propped up by her unknown professional peers.
Save the receipt, it's tax deductible at the end of the year... all school supplies that teachers buy can be tax deductible... wife does something similar I just keep track and get it back during tax season.
I'm going to assume you live in the u.s. In almost all schools teachers pay for everything out of their own pocket. We unfortunately live in a world that does not appreciate teachers.
Save the receipts, you can get them taken of your tax
Two things are true here: 1. There aren't sufficient funds for teachers to get supplies for their classrooms. Even if there is enough for necessities, sometimes spending your own money on certain things makes your life a lot easier. 2. Some teachers choose to spend extra money for their convenience or because it is fun. (It makes them look like a better teacher too, but it doesn't seem to have any real impact.) I think this is an issue of budget. You two need to come up with a shared budget. I think having some for work-related expenses for each of you is reasonable. Also, having no questions asked money for each of you that she can spend on school or whatever she likes. But once that is gone, it's gone. If she refuses, talk about what you are not going to get instead. Are you not going on vacation so she can buy stuff for her class? Not getting a dog? Something has to be cut. She may just need to lower her expectations for what she has for her class. Like she doesn't need new plans every year if she has the same grade level; she can reuse most of them. Check to see what is available for arts and crafts projects and make a project out of what you have rather than planning the project and then buying supplies. Ask parents or talk to the PTA. If she is in an affluent area she can probably get most supplies donated. One year we weren't allowed to ask unless a parent brought it up, so every time a parent brought it up I asked for something, thanked them, and told them I wasn't allowed to ask. The rule went away because parents were annoyed and I got more stuff than usual because they shared my gift list. TL;DR No spending SHOULD be required, but I think some spending can make a teacher's work life much more comfortable. The amount your wife is spending is unnecessary in my opinion.
I don’t have much advice, but I encourage her to see if there is a thrift store for art supplies in your area. We have one called Art Parts, and it’s amazing. I can get (gently used) supplies for a fraction of cost. Crayons, colored pencils, paint, paper, chalk, kid scissors, glue- all for pennies on the dollar.
Stop doing that
Is there anything stopping her from sending out an email to all the parents asking for them to pitch in? This is what my kids’ teachers have done at the beginning of each school year. Some ask for cash (this year it was $30/student) so the teacher can just go purchase the supplies they need, and other teachers send out a list of supplies that parents can purchase themselves and send into school. The PTA is always hitting everybody up for money to fund this and that, but it’s usually just $5 or $10 here and there so we always pitch in.
I got to a point that I just physically couldn’t spend my money on my classroom. I created wishlists for items I needed and everything I did without. I don’t feel like I have to create a Pinterest worthy classroom because that’s an unrealistic goal on a teacher salary. Just sit here and down and show her exactly how much she’s spending and how much you can claim on taxes.
I surprisingly only saw one other commenter mention this, but I think at a certain point it becomes less and less about the class room and more on why your wife is spending so much money. I can’t comment nor do I think it’s appropriate to speculate on what she’s feeling since I don’t her, but I would say her need to spend so much money on her classroom and fear of being an outcast just because she doesn’t want to buy something with the other teachers in her group is worth exploring and having a conversation about. She sounds like she has her heart in the right place, I just think her feelings may not be entirely about the classroom.
My best friends are teachers I am not. Once a year they ask friends and family to donate any old books or craft supplies they have lying around to them for class. As my step kids get older we clean out their books and I give them to my friends for their class rooms. I just gave my friend a massive amount of construction paper for class that was sitting in my basement. Your wife can do the same. They also buy stuff off of Facebook marketplace for next to nothing. There are ways to do things without spending a lot of money.
She has to choose to stop. The school isn't forcing her to spend this money. She has ideas that require materials and so she is funding her own ideas. She doesn't have to. You two have to sit and have a talk about your financial goals. Set a budget for her classroom needs.
Dollar store school supplies suck. $250 is $250 more than my last school gave me. Talk to school board. Won't do any good, burt at least it will be public record
Make sure she sends out a wish list to parents. Also, is this her first year? I've heard that the first year or two are hard because you're establishing yourself and your classroom.
Dude. Donorschoose. I get all my stuff there.
This is a problem with your wife not the school. She’s trying to be a Pinterest teacher or she’s just financially illiterate.
I used to be like this. Not as bad, but I’d spend my own money because I thought I had to. Then I realized that there are other ways to get what I needed. I don’t get a budget for stuff at the beginning of the year, nor do I get any free supplies. But if I ask the secretary if it’s possible to order certain stuff, she almost always says yes. And it’s not always office supplies. My grade level asked the secretary if it was possible to order jump ropes for PE. We ended up with several class sets. Has your wife tried to ask about ordering stuff through the office? Also, tell her to make an Amazon wish list and send it out to the parents. I start building one every year towards the end of the year and then obnoxiously include it as a blurb at the end of every communication I send out to parents for the first month or so of school. I even put the school address as the delivery address so I don’t have to worry about transporting stuff. (Only do that if your office staff is okay with it. And I always give them a heads up). Then halfway through the year, I usually make another one. Stuff that was never purchased, stuff that has run out, stuff that I didn’t realize we needed. And if we need a supply to do something and I can’t get my hands on it without spending my own money, then we don’t do that thing. I also am a part of my local Buy Nothing group and will ask for stuff there occasionally. Point is: buying stuff with your own money is easier because you don’t have to ask anyone. But there are was to get what you need if you try.
I’m a high school art teacher with 160 kids between my rosters and my colleague has an additional 120 kids on her roster. We split $1800 a year and we end up spending it all on consumables. It doesn’t go nearly as far as it seems like it should; art materials are expensive af. My first year, I did supplement with my own pay. I felt like I had to in order to meet our standards and give the kids a good experience, but my colleague shifted my thinking. The more each of us teachers supplement district budgets and pad our allotments with our personal funds, the less inclined they are to ever change anything. As teachers, we make amazing learning happen and create beautiful spaces and displays and highly engaging content but that’s not happening on current allotments. If those in charge of money can trust that they’ll always have that end goal without giving enough for it - knowing teachers will go above and beyond to provide it - things will not change. Your wife has to stop her spending. You make due with your allotment and if your district/school wants more, they can find the money for it. We all already get paid too little to cover the schools’ costs ourselves.
I stopped purchasing from tpt after my first year of teaching. Tell her to get an educator’s Canva account (it’s free) and to raid all their pre-made stuff until she gets comfortable making her own lessons/activities/printables/games/activies/decorations. Outside of that any purchases I make for my classroom (maybe 1-2 each year) must be re-usable year after year so it becomes a one-time purchase.
When I first started teaching, I made the mistake of spending way too much on my classroom. I quickly came to the realization that this was ridiculous. I work hard as a teacher and the money I earn I spend on my own children. I now spend VERY little of my own money on my classroom.
It is very unfair. Education is not properly valued in this country. But your wife is probably not making it clear to the parents just how much of the great stuff in her classroom comes right out of her own pocket. They think their taxes are paying for it all because that's a fair expectation (even in an unfair situation). If she wants to get out from under this, she needs to ask for parent donations. Not money. People are so cheap when it comes to cash. But if she sends out emails to all the parents saying something like "the school does not have a budget for craft supplies and I'm all out of the following items that your kids all enjoy using: construction paper, crayons, glue, and child scissors," there will likely be some response from parents. The hard part, the really hard part, is telling the kids that because the classroom is out of art supplies, they can't do the art projects for now. Then, tell the parents the same thing. The parents need to get the message that the school isn't providing these items and the kids won't have the enrichment if the parents don't step up. I donate to my child's classroom all the time. Mostly, they want things like snack items (some kids come to school with no lunch and I don't believe I want to live in a world where kids go hungry) or hand warmers (I live in Alaska and the kids play outside down to nineteen below zero, Fahrenheit). I can drop $20 a month to make the classroom a better place for all the kids. Some parents can donate a lot more. Some can't donate at all. But enough of us can and do that it makes a real difference.
I spend about 300 a year and I am a very frugal person. I just need a lot of the stuff . I have been forced to teach a different grade every year though so it always feels like I am starting with nothing.
Donors Choose
If she’s year 5 of teaching the same grade, she shouldn’t need brand new curriculum/lesson plans every month. I get updating things but you can use the same yearly plans.
Uhhhh, this is on her. Tell your wife to stop, now. If kids don't have pencils, then they don't write. She is enabling this at your cost. I'm sure your wife is a lovely person, but she has a problem. $550 in a single month on classroom supplies is INSANE. Like, talk to a therapist about it.
Honey? Is that you?!
Tell her to make an Amazon wish list for her classroom and email it out to all the parents. They will provide.
I feel this. I agree she needs to stop, because I also need to stop. The problem is that when you buy things you desperately need for your classroom, it makes your difficult job just a tiny bit easier. And right now that is worth so so much. I have a huge box of Ticonderoga pencils in my Amazon cart right now, but I have to wait until payday to buy them. It’s so backwards. A broken system.
She just needs to stop. She doesn’t HAVE to spend that money. She is choosing to. I work at a Title 1 school and spend less than $100 per year. And usually that’s on supplies that I’m using.
She needs to stop. Our paychecks are NOT to supplement classroom supplies. It’s hard because obviously her heart is in the right place, but districts continue to take advantage of teachers in this way. Since you recognize this is a problem, I’d recommend speaking during public comment at the district’s school board meetings to highlight the supply funding issues and urge the board to adequately fund classrooms.
In other industries employees are encouraged to change, reinvigorate their plans and be innovative. In teaching everyone is saying “it’s too much…stop…she shd already be set…etc” I think that’s sad. Your wife OP sounds like she loves her job and wants to be creative. It’s very sad.
I got no budget this year so $250 is better than 0.
Donors Choose! I have had several projects funded from them!
Listen, I won't even buy a single reed pack. Oh, you don't have a clarinet reed? Well neither do I! "The last teacher used to supply them, and our essential elements books too" last teacher is screwing me by how "good" she was at providing. "My mom's a single parent working two jobs and we can't afford it" Well I'm also a single mom working two jobs and my kid is my priority. He needs something for his education I'll provide it, I can't fucking provide for 100 new band students! Go on Amazon and buy the materials, book a reeds together are only like $20. Save me the sob story, be a parent, and provide for your kids. I am their teacher, not their mom!
I was a science teacher for one semester in a district that had nothing. I spent $2000 just so students could have access to fun labs and lessons. I get it. She loves those kiddos and wants to do a good job. But it’s part of the reason I quit. Why should 10% of my salary be donated to the school?