“According to a recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, 94 percent of teachers spend their own money to stock their classrooms with the necessary supplies and resources. On average, a teacher will shell out about $479, although 7 percent spent more than $1,000, according to the survey. Sep 14, 2018.”
I asked the Educators in my Early Childhood Educator’s group, if this was true for them. I got over 20 replies and they all basically said “yes” they do spend their own money for their classrooms.
Some were reimbursed by the school they worked at, but most were not. When people think of Early Childhood Educators, they don’t think of them as regular teachers, so most people don’t know that we all use our own money to make our classrooms more engaging for our students, just like elementary school teachers do.
As a Educator, I would spend over $50.00 a month buying things for my classroom. I used to leave materials in the classroom, but realized if I took the materials home, I could use them every year with different students. So I started taking my materials home, and bringing them back for certain themes or events.
The thing about using your own money is that it takes the responsibly away from the school, who should be providing the students with everything they need.
My biggest problem is that when someone comes in my class for an inspection, upper management acts like they had something to do with the appearance of my room. And try to take all the credit, knowing that it’s the first time they saw my classroom all year.
I can’t say that a teacher shouldn’t use their own money, I think that’s a personal decision. But I do think they shouldn’t have to, the school should be responsible for all that. If a teacher wants to buy gifts for their students’ Birthday or for a Holiday, the school should give them money to do that also.
What are your thoughts on this?
Darla the Teacher
