- Back to school supplies have increased nearly 10% between 2022 and 2023.
- Educators are expected to spend more than $500 dollars this school year on school supplies for their classrooms.
- The Leon County School District has invested a million dollars to help meet the supply gap in the district.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For many students in Florida and Georgia school starts this week.
That means teachers are getting their classrooms prepared to welcome them back, but at what cost to their own financial security?
The National Education Association reports, over 90% of teachers spend their own money on school supplies and other items that their students need to succeed.
Caitlyn Whitley is a special education teacher at Ruediger Elementary in Tallahassee. She takes extra care when it comes to getting her classroom ready for the new school year. "We have to buy snacks, we have to buy cleaning supplies, we have to buy anything that will get us through the day."
Whitley says the Leon County School district gives teachers anywhere between $250 and $300 a year for school supplies and any additional supplies over that amount she buys with her own money. "Sometimes we have teachers, including myself who buy shoes, who buy hygiene products. So we are spending a lot of our money on things our students need to make it through the day, make it through the weekend and make it through life."
Expenses that are no small feat when you factor in rising inflation and low teacher pay. The National Education Association reports, just before the pandemic, educators on average spent around $500 of their own money on classroom supplies over the course of the year. That number is expected to be considerably higher this year. Plus the prices of back-to-school products have increased on average by 9.8% in 2023 compared to 2022, based on a DataWeave analysis of 1,200 products across Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Kroger.
These are dedicated teachers working to provide the best education they can for students, but because of economics that just doesn't add up their numbers are dwindling. "I am one of two or three from my graduating class that are still teaching." Whitley says she feels supported by her administration and fellow teachers - but many teachers do not. As a result, there is a severe shortage of educators in Florida, Georgia and across the country. According to the NEA, the main reason is pay, with Florida ranking in the bottom five nationally for teacher salaries at $51,230. Georgia ranks 21 in the nation with an average teacher salary of $62,240. Average educator pay has also failed to keep up with inflation. Teachers are making $3,644 less, on average, than they did 10 years ago, adjusted for inflation.
We reached out to Leon County Schools to see how more teachers can get the supplies they need. Chris Petley who serves as the Communications Coordinator says "the superintendent and Leon Schools itself has put a million dollars back into the schools to ensure that parents are not carrying the burden of buying things like tissues and cleaning supplies things that the school should really be supplying. So we’re doing what we can at a district level to make sure our teachers have what they need.”
Many parents also help by sending their children to school with supplies, and Whitley says there is a Facebook page called Stock our Schools Leon County and most of the teachers in Leon County and the surrounding areas post an Amazon Wishlist for people who would like to donate supplies to their classroom. "Even if you buy one thing it’s so helpful."
