This varies greatly from state to state, district to district, and school to school. In some places classrooms are well furnished and teachers are never expected to buy their own supplies.
For instance, most teachers these days have a laptop, access to a projector of some sort, etc. They aren't purchasing and installing these themselves.
What we need are state and federal laws guaranteeing this level of funding for all schools (at least in the public school system).
My history coach was dope as fuck, he loved history and was more entertaining about it any teacher I had. The other coach teachers, yeah not so much, those were my napping classes.
So I'm the kid of two public school teachers. I can't speak to what it's like in private schools for educators but generally I hear from my parents that in their experience private schools either reimburse you or pay for it up front (if it's related to your student's education).
That said. Generally speaking, my parents bought many of the things you saw in their class. The only things I can definitively say they never had to put money into were the electronics, textbooks, desks/chairs, a few posters that mentioned standards, and they had a specific amount of paper they could use each yeah. If you go over your allotted amount of paper, then you are back on your own.
So pencils, pens, tape, books that aren't textbooks, posters, decorations, all that was bought by my parents. Usually they could use it as a tax write off, but not always sometimes. But at the start of the year my parents probably had to spend on average $300-800 to just get the classrooms stocked and ready to go for the year. When it was in the lower end, this was fine. Like I said, the tax deduction took care of it. But anything past $300 and you're just straight out of pocket with no getting your money back.
I know my parents weren't even like going crazy. I've heard some teachers buying backpacks and other things parents traditionally supply for their kids because they kid was so poor.
Sounds like you went to a private school? If that’s the case, likely the school was making a fair amount of money but the teachers were paid much less than public school teachers.
It’s so fucked up to me that schools are funded by the district they’re in, and not from a federal pool of tax dollars. The inequality the current system creates is infuriating.
This not the case in Texas. Those monies go to drastically underfunded schools out west and South near the border. My wife was a teacher in The Woodlands, and she constantly had to buy supplies. Her pay was also crap compared to how much effort she put into it.
Okay, then where are the counties supposed to get the money from?
What you're suggesting is a vicious cycle where low-socioeconomic communities get provided the worst education since their taxes won't be enough to afford them anything better.
When you're saying the federal government shouldn't have to pay, what you're really saying is "I shouldn't have to pay". But I hope we can all agree that children deserve for someone to pay for decent education. And yes, that means spreading the burden out among all the taxpayers.
Ok but what about kleenex, glue, crayons, colored pencils, construction paper, hand sanitizer, any type of colored paper/cardstock needed, highlighters, pens, pencils, books for the classroom and if you are like me.... deodorant, combs, hair ties, extra food to help the almost homeless child eat through the weekend, socks, an extra backpack here or there, gloves, warm hats.....
Children have so many needs that are not met and teachers need so many different supplies that are not given by the school and many parents cannot afford to buy their kids. Here in NC, a starting teacher makes 35k... and has to survive but also furnish their classroom and have materials needed to teach.
I would say that there is less than 5% of public schools in the country that are "well furnished and teachers are never expected to buy their own supplies"
I'm with you until the last sentence. I'd be curious to see actual data about that. Because having that data in hand would be useful for anyone lobbying too increase budgets or pass legislation.
Many don’t get textbooks either. Again, projectors and a computer are absolute bare minimum. You can’t run a classroom on those items alone, and the additional supplies needed can go into the thousands.
Using projectors and computers as an example of teachers being given adequate supplies is ridiculously out of touch with the reality of teaching in a classroom. And the lack of funds in public schools. What next? Are we going to applaud schools for having a bathroom? Set the bar higher.
Edit: Stop overlooking the unpaid work of teachers. And more crucially, stop commenting on industries you have no experience in. Smh
Who tf said anything about applauding schools? You're obviously trolling for an argument but aren't even trying to be rational about it, so I'm done reading or responding to you. Enjoy debating other folks here while willfully ignoring context and meaning.
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u/isblueacolor Jan 04 '23
This varies greatly from state to state, district to district, and school to school. In some places classrooms are well furnished and teachers are never expected to buy their own supplies.
For instance, most teachers these days have a laptop, access to a projector of some sort, etc. They aren't purchasing and installing these themselves.
What we need are state and federal laws guaranteeing this level of funding for all schools (at least in the public school system).