Teacher spending on supplies rises
By Eloise Aguiar and Sara Lin
Advertiser Staff Writers
During about 17 years, Todd Hendricks estimates he spent $15,000 of his own money to buy supplies for his classroom.
The marine science and boating teacher at Kailua High School eventually discovered that he could turn to fund-raisers to defray his costs, but many teachers still shell out big bucks each year.
A nationwide survey by the National School Supply and Equipment Association in Silver Spring, Md., found that teachers spent an average of $589 of their money on supplies in 2001, up from $448 in 1999.
But in Hawai'i, teachers were spending more than that four years ago, according to the Hawai'i State Teachers Association.
An informal 1999 survey, the latest year for which figures are available, revealed that teachers were shelling out on average $600 a year for purchases, said Danielle Lum, communication specialist with HSTA. Lum said she believes teachers today are spending more.
"I do know teachers who spend $1,000 a year on their classrooms," she said. "That's not the norm, but they're not completely out of the ballpark."
For some, these out-of-pocket expense items include not only classroom decorations such as posters, but such essential items as pencils, glue bottles, scissors and facial tissues.
The federal government has begun to notice. Last year, President Bush signed into law a $250 federal tax credit for educators who spend their money on classroom materials. The credit was extended to this year. Now, the National Education Association, whose membership includes 2.7 million teachers, is lobbying for a permanent and much larger tax credit that would cover supplies and professional conferences.
"It's an important issue because this will make a real difference for many educators, who often sacrifice personal needs to pay for classroom supplies and professional training," said Anjetta McQueen, an NEA spokeswoman.
Nationally, school administrators are sympathetic, but say they are struggling to keep up with rising costs to equip their campuses with the latest technology and instructional materials to help meet the federal No Child Left Behind law. At a local level, most decisions on how much to spend on classroom supplies are made on a school-by-school basis.
"We've had very limited revenue for the past two years," said Susan Bowen, manager of instructional budget and staffing for schools in Anne Arundel County, Md. "You have to decide with the money you get: Do you need buildings, do you need teachers, do you need pencils?"
Hendricks is among teachers in Hawai'i who have turned creative to help their classrooms and ease their financial burden.
He and his students now conduct fund-raisers year-round to pay for equipment, repairs and student travel.
He is now about to retire after 31 years, and he said he spends only about $20 a month, though the fund-raisers take a lot of his time.
He and the students build an imu several times a year so residents can cook their meat, and they sell kalua pig, sweet bread and candy, he said. Last year they earned about $11,000 but that was to also help cover students' travel expenses to New Zealand.
"(Fund raising) is another job you have to regulate and it takes a lot of time," Hendricks said.
Sue Schaefer, a teacher at St. George's Episcopal Preschool, said she spends about $50 to $100 of her own money each month for extras, books and resources to enhance her curriculum.
"I know I'm not the only teacher out there, whether in public or private school, that spends sometimes more than she makes on her class," she said. "(Good) teaching can be done without anything, but the best teaching takes many things in order to be accomplished: the environment, teaching tools, extra experiences, support of the parents and the devoted teacher."
To help defray costs, Schaefer has tapped into resources intended to help teachers, including iLoveSchools.com, a Web site launched in July by a San Diego-based Web design company called eWebLab. The site allows teachers to request everything from tape players and VCRs to carpets and crayons — then matches up the requests with donors, all at no cost.
Schaefer's request has not been fulfilled, but she hopes someone will donate a round area rug for circle time, IZone film and two tape recorders with headphones for use in the library.
Here's how it works.
Teachers register their school and verify authenticity with eWebLab via iLoveSchools.com. Once accepted, they can put in requests for up to 10 different items for their classroom. Interested donors can search for a specific school or they can search by item, which returns a list of all schools that need those items.
Both corporations and individuals are welcomed as donors, said Jerry Hall, president of eWebLab. People can donate something they own and want to put to another use or they can find out what a school needs and offer to buy and ship it to them.
Once a donor replies to a query, eWebLab forwards the message to the requesting teacher. Teachers and donors then communicate directly.
"The important thing that we need to get out to the community is that there are companies and individuals that would like to donate things to the schools or teachers and this is one way that they can do that," Schaefer said.
The Washington Post contributed to this report. Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
