Teachers have long pulled from their own pockets to pay for classroom supplies. Now, rising inflation and widening student needs have made that more expensive.
鈥淎t this point, the school has pretty much said they can鈥檛 pay for anything, which has been pretty shocking,鈥� said Dominique Foster, a 20-year veteran early childhood specialist at Friendship Public Charter School鈥檚 Blow Pierce campus in the District of Columbia. "[Administrators] just don鈥檛 know how much money there will be, so they鈥檙e trying to stretch it. If you want to do anything, they might say you can do it, but you better pay for it yourself.鈥�
In a survey released by the crowdsourcing platform DonorsChoose April 28, teachers reported spending on average $655 of their own money for their students this school year, up $45 from the 2023-24 school year. They sought more than twice that in outside money to meet basic classroom needs.
DonorsChoose is the largest education crowdfunding platform in the United States, with teachers in about 9 in 10 school districts nationwide requesting aid through the site. In March, the group surveyed more than 2,500 K-12 teachers nationwide who use the site about their experiences and priorities in the 2024-25 school year. The group also analyzed data from the crowdfunding requests of more than 7,000 teachers who work in schools with a majority of students from low-income families and a majority of students who are Black, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial.
The sample was representative of the teachers who crowdfund, which prior studies find are from low-income schools and states that provide the least per-pupil funding. The survey may not be fully representative of teachers鈥攊t relied on teachers who use the platform鈥攂ut their spending is in line with, which have noted rising out-of-pocket costs for teachers since the pandemic.
鈥淢aterials are becoming harder to purchase on our own with the inflation,鈥� one Texas high school teacher who took the DonorsChoose survey said. 鈥淢y paycheck has not gone up, but supplies and things I need for my students have increased.鈥�
In fact, nearly half of teachers who took the survey also reported taking a second job鈥攆rom education-related ones like tutoring and coaching to other gigs, like bartending and retail鈥攖o make ends meet.
Foster has paid some $5,000 out-of-pocket this year, as budgets tightened for her school and her mostly low-income families alike.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 ask the parents for snacks anymore, because groceries are crazy, so I pretty much buy most of the snacks,鈥� Foster said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e spending $15 here, $20 here. ... And I like really nice activities in the classroom, so I鈥檓 willing to spend my own money. ... It adds up.鈥�
Crowdfunding demands for students鈥� basic needs multiply, too
Teachers also increasingly seek support from crowdfunding sites to help cover more than just academic tools and classroom goodies. DonorsChoose found the number of requests for classroom support related to basic student needs鈥攆ood, clothing, and hygiene鈥攈as more than tripled, from just over 13,800 in 2020-21 to more than 47,800 this school year.
Students鈥� mental health鈥攑articularly in high school鈥攁lso remains a top concern for teachers, with nearly 7 in 10 reporting that they need more professional staff, training, and class resources to support students struggling with mental or emotional issues.
鈥淚 see firsthand how much students are struggling and how important it is for them to have a safe, supportive space to process their challenges,鈥� one Colorado middle school teacher said as part of the survey. 鈥淭he need for more mental health resources, staffing, and accessible interventions is greater than ever.鈥�
Requests for classroom furniture, like flexible seating, have also more than doubled since 2020, from about 15,500 to nearly 40,300 this year, and crowdsourcing proposals for art supplies nearly doubled, from more than 16,100 to just over 30,000 in the last five years.
鈥淭eaching has always been a tough job to do in terms of literally taking care of all the responsibilities, especially given the resources,鈥� said Alix Guerrier, the chief executive officer of DonorsChoose. 鈥淏ut definitely since 2020, there was this incredible step change in the responsibilities that teachers have, and that step change has been lasting.鈥�
In tight budget years, Foster said she and her colleagues have been advised to lean on crowdfunding for things the school can鈥檛 afford. But relying on crowdfunding sites can exacerbate funding inequities.
Studies find, for example, that while most crowdfunding requests focus on core subject areas like mathematics and language arts, those projects are financial literacy, or other less common subjects. Foster agreed, noting that crowdfunding requests for a fun class project, such as analyzing model skeletons, or those with catchy titles, tend to be more successful than workaday requests. She and her colleagues work together to plan project requests.
Not all teachers have that luxury; some districts have moved to ban crowdsourcing, saying there aren鈥檛 adequate controls on the materials teachers purchase and that the practice makes it harder to track overall school funding.
While districts and other groups have come under pressure to remove materials related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, more than 8 in 10 teachers鈥攁nd nearly 9 in 10 teachers at low-income schools that serve a majority of students of color鈥攕aid it was important or very important for their classroom materials to reflect their students鈥� identities.
Guerrier said teachers are also seeking more help to introduce their students to new career fields.
鈥淲e actually do see evidence even in elementary that teachers are thinking about this, that they鈥檙e aware of the changes [in career education], they鈥檙e aware of the public discourse,鈥� he said.
