April 6, 2025: Teacher Spend Their Own Money By Choice

         That was the response that caught my eye as I was skimming through an online conversation about the funding of education.  Clearly a complex topic with political, ethical, and practical themes running through it. Participants in the conversation appeared to range from parents to educators and everyone in between. And when someone brought up the vast amounts of money that teachers themselves spend to fund their own classrooms and teaching, that was the response that stuck with me. “Teachers spend their own money by choice. No one is forcing them to spend money on things the school and district will not provide.”

That has been rattling around my head since then.  I cannot disagree. Yet that position does not even begin to scratch the surface of a very complex issue.  This position does not acknowledge the very real struggle, the philosophical issues, or the nuanced decisions teachers make every time they chose to spend their own money on things to help their students.

Yes, I choose to spend a great deal of my own money on consumable items so my students can conduct science experiments.  It is amazing how quickly things like wax paper, clay, and eggs; or dish soap, corn syrup, vegetable oil, and baby oil; or aluminum foil, pipe cleaners, and cotton balls add up.  And purchasing things like owl pellets can be extremely expensive. While I could choose not to spend my money on those things, and teach concepts like buoyancy, the density of liquids, arch strength or food webs through textbook readings, I know that my students will more deeply understand the concepts if they are engaged in active learning. Which requires materials.

Yes, I choose to spend my own money to purchase subscriptions (which are not inexpensive) to several online digital tools that allow my students to create different types of products to share their learning.  Paper and pencil tests and district assessments are not the only way for student to show mastery. Using these types of digital tools, my students not only build up their own knowledge of technology and its applications, but they can synthesize information from multiple sources into a single, cohesive product that shares their learning.  This is powerful and results in students who are not only more engaged, but who take ownership of their own learning.

Yes, I choose to spend my own money on books for my classroom library because I want my students surrounded by great literature and informative nonfiction texts. I see how powerful good books are and I want my students to have easy access to engaging books.  

Yes, I choose to spend my own money on stickers, treasure-box toys, and other fun rewards because I know how motivating those things can be.  If you have ever had a child or grandchild come home with some little reward that they earned, you know how much joy those silly little things can bring!

True- no one is forcing me to purchase these things. But I also believe that this exposes a deeper disconnect between what is truly effective teaching in the classroom, and what is affordable teaching for school districts.  Schools and districts purchase the bare minimum and what is applicable to the most. A true one-size-fits-all approach.

Any teacher will tell you, students are most definitely not a one-size-fits-all commodity. Each one comes with their own skills, experiences, needs, and challenges.  As teachers, we look at each of our students, and make decisions on how best to teach the mandated standards in ways that will allow all of them to learn and grow. This will almost always require materials that are not provided by the schools and district.

So yes, most of us then chose to spend our own money so that we can most effectively teach your children.  Perhaps instead of dismissing this very real issue with derision, you could just say thank you!