Imagine being handed just $225 at the start of the year, and told that’s all you have to supply five classrooms of students with the tools they need to succeed.
For many teachers, this is the reality of the annual ‘Teachers Choice’ fund, which has dropped in recent years from 250 dollars to 225 despite rising costs of basic classroom materials.
However, with budgets shrinking and classroom needs expanding, that money often feels like a drop in the bucket. What happens when the markers run dry, or the paper supply lowers before the teacher gets their cash again?
Teachers are left with a difficult choice: cut back on creativity, or dip into their own pockets.
When ESL teacher Mrs. Dejesus was asked how often they feel the need to purchase supplies for their classroom, her response was immediate: “Everyday.”
English teacher and Dean, Ms. Devincenzo, provided a breakdown of the funds. “We get 225 a year and that’s only 5.62 per week,” she explained. “I teach 5 classes, and each class has 32 students which is a lot of pencils, pens, and papers.”
Students are often the first to feel the effects when the ‘extras’ disappear. Most of the supplies promote creativity and make learning engaging.
As Mrs. De Jesus noted, the Teacher’s Choice money is crucial “For fun activities such as markers, color pencils, paper.”
When these supplies run out in the middle of the year, it often means that planned activities are limited. Teachers are then left with a difficult choice: tell students no, or use money from their own funds.
Additionally, some teachers see it as a serious issue of inequality. The experience is not the same from one school building to the next. “No not enough,” Physical Education teacher Mr.Chandler said. “For John Dewey, they provide teachers with enough necessities, but in other schools they don’t, so it’s not enough.”
This inequality means a student’s access to materials can depend simply on what school they go to.
Teachers bring this problem back to a common issue. “The school funding went down,” Ms.Devincenzo further explains, “Now the schools say they don’t have enough funding.”
The budget cuts and reduced Teacher’s Choice funds have placed educators in a tough position, forcing them to make difficult financial choices for their students’ needs.
The restrictions on the funds are also a source of frustration, as teachers see firsthand that the most pressing needs in their classrooms aren’t always academic. Ms.Devincenzo said that if given the freedom: “If there weren’t any restrictions I would use the money to buy student food. Why can’t I use the money to feed my students?”