Teachers, parents dig deep for kids Teachers routinely finance school supplies

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• Donation touches Black Creek teachers

When Matt Marty retired last year after teaching 35 years at Sun Prairie Middle School, he asked his colleagues not to give him any gifts. Instead, he asked them to contribute to an endowment fund he set up to benefit future Sun Prairie middle school students.

Matt Marty, Sun Prairie

Marty made the first $500 contribution. He also contributed money in the name of his late mother, Argevena Marty, who was a teacher — and his inspiration for joining the profession. So far, the fund has collected more than $3,000.

“I just wanted a way of still helping the kids after I left,” Marty said.

Marty is just one example of thousands of teachers and parents throughout Wisconsin who are so committed to schools and children that they don’t hesitate to dig deep into their own pockets to help both succeed and excel.

One parent in Black Creek — just north of Appleton — recently donated $5,000 to the 51 teachers there to help them help their students. The anonymous contribution was made in recognition of the fact that teachers routinely spend hundreds of dollars of their own money on classroom supplies and other enhancements – and that they should not have to.

Surveys have come up with alarming statistics on the extent of teachers’ personal spending in the classroom:

• A 1996 study conducted by WEAC and the NEA found that Wisconsin teachers, on average, spend $343 of their own money on classroom supplies every year. That means the 62,000 public school teachers in the state spent more than $21 million of their own money in one year on school materials and supplies.
• Teachers also spend considerable amounts of their own money on courses that help them serve children better. In the same 1996 study – Status of the Wisconsin Public School Teachers – teachers said they spend, on average, more than $600 of their own money on tuition, fees, books, supplies, travel and other expenses related to their own professional development. That adds up to more than $37 million per year of Wisconsin teachers’ own money.
• A 1997 bargaining survey by Madison Teachers Inc. found that the 2,300 teachers in that city alone spend nearly $830,000 per year on classroom supplies. Teachers said their out-of-pocket expenditures were rising because state-imposed revenue controls have forced the school district to cut its budget.
• A 1996 nationwide NEA survey found that the average American public school teacher spends $408 a year on everything from stickers and pencils to students’ shoes and clothing. One teacher who participated in that study – Status of the American Public School Teacher – reported out-of-pocket expenses of $9,000. The biggest spenders were elementary teachers, who paid out an average of $502.
• In a 1997 survey of Appleton teachers, 95% said they spent personal funds to purchase materials and resources for students in their classrooms. The largest group – 39% – spent $101 to $500 per year.
• Three-quarters of Appleton teachers also said they spent more than $250 of their own money to earn credits in the previous three years. Seventeen percent spent more than $1,500.

By and large, teachers don’t mind spending their own money, but many feel it is indicative of a very serious problem: schools are underfunded. It is, after all, the job of school boards — not teachers — to purchase classroom materials.

In operating the Sun Prairie Middle School Endowment Fund, Marty is trying to be careful to restrict spending to materials, programs and initiatives that do not normally fall under the responsibility of the school board.

“The idea is to not let the school board off the hook,” he said. “We want to be able to fund the extras.”

For example, he said, the money could help a poor child go on a class trip or buy a book.

Marty isn’t too worried about those details. He is confident they can be worked out. Right now, he just wants to raise enough money so the fund can operate off interest alone and still provide a significant benefit to students. Why?

“I really enjoyed the profession and worked my whole career on improving the profession. It was a labor of love,” Marty said. “This is just a way for me to give back to the school, the community, the children and the profession.”

Posted April 2, 1998