Back to school time leaves teachers out of pocket — some spending as much as $1000 on supplies
AS kids prepare to return to school teachers are having to spend as much as $1000 of their own money on school supplies.
AS school gets ready to resume over the next three weeks teachers are having to spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy stationery for children.
A recent survey of 230 primary school teachers across Australia revealed 92 per cent have had to buy essential classroom materials out of their own pocket in the past year.
The survey conducted by professional educators, Education Changemakers, and Australian stationery brand Yoobi, also revealed that almost half, 47 per cent, of teachers spend between $100 and $500 a year. And one in 10 will spend upwards of $1000 per year out of their own pocket.
While these latest figures may seem like a lot a 2014 survey conducted by the NSW Teachers Federation found teachers spent an average of $1848 on school supplies.
Principals spent the most, shelling out an average of $2601, and primary school teachers spent more than secondary teachers — $1953 compared to $1503.
Like most of her peers former full time teacher Vicki Chick, 58, from Glenelg, South Australia, has had to dig into her own purse for classroom supplies.
“There’s never enough money in the classroom budget,” Chick said.
And while she says some of it can be claimed back on tax, teachers are still left out of pocket.
“Most teachers are dedicated and want to do the best stuff with their kids so they just buy it.”
“Parents spend a reasonable amount of money on school fees but that has to go towards not only but also towards computers and other things in the school — the government doesn’t give the schools enough money to cover all that.”
She says the problem is worse in the more disadvantaged schools where money is even tighter.
Figures from the Australian Council Of Social Service (ACOSS) Poverty Report 2016 revealed that 731,300 children under the age of 15 were living below the poverty line.
As parents struggle with other necessities, school supplies get bumped off the priority list.
“People just can’t afford the basics and they expect those basics to come from the school, but the schools are not able, with their budgets, to supply the products to the teachers so the teachers are stuck in the middle,” Yoobi co-founder Lance Kalish said.
“Teachers have had kids come to them and say I can’t do this week’s homework. There was one kid who said ‘I don’t have a pencil at home’”.
Yoobi is helping bridge the gap by working with the Smith Family to donate their products to schools in need. And for every Yoobi item purchased, another item is donated to a child or classroom.
But Federal President of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, said it’s important governments don’t take advantage of the goodwill of teachers, charities and organisations, and that they provide the necessary funding.
“I can’t think of a single teacher who has not spent their own money to make sure their lessons and classes have been able to function at a high level,” Haythorpe said.
“I can’t think of another profession where that would be a similar requirement.”
Haythorpe said fundamentally the government should make sure schools have the resources they need.
She said as the Federal Government continues to debate if they will fully implement Gonski, and as they threaten to walk away and do another funding agreement, public schools are 3.9 billion worse off.
TOP FIVE ITEMS TEACHERS ARE BUYING
1. Pencils
2. Pens
3. Sharpeners
4. Scissors
5. Pencil case
6. Exercise books
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Yoobi has laucned a social media campaign asking people to share a photo of their open hand — signalling five, on their social media account using the tags #sharefive and @yoobiaustralia. In return Yoobi will donate five essential school items to a child in need during the 2017 back to school period. The campaign finishes on January 30 2017.