As students return to school this week and next, teachers will not only have the honor of helping to shape the next generation of minds, but in today’s cash-strapped public education system they often bear the added responsibility of paying for the privilege.

It is in light of this phenomenon that The Wave will launch Tools for Teachers, an initiative under which the newspaper will work with corporate and community partners to provide a select group of educators with some of the classroom supplies they might normally have to purchase at their own expense.

In the initial phase of the project, a total of 35 teachers from schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and Inglewood Unified School District have been selected to participate.

Periodically over the next several months, the paper will publish profiles of some of these teachers and their campuses, in an effort to draw further attention to how financial struggles in public education personally affect those entrusted with students’ academic success.

“Teachers, particularly in the inner city, need all the help they can get,” said Wave Publisher Pluria Marshall Jr. “Our hope is that this initiative will help them in the difficult task of educating our future leaders.”

According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, public school teachers in the U.S. spent more than $1.33 billion out of pocket on school supplies and instructional materials in the 2009-2010 school year.

Ninety-two percent of teachers reported spending some amount of their own money on classroom supplies; 85 percent reported spending their own money on instructional materials.

According to a story in The Journal: Technological Horizons in Education, “instructional materials were defined as software and games, as well as paper-based teaching aids and other non-equipment teaching materials; supplies were defined as printer paper, arts and crafts supplies, pencils, glue, and other similar supplies.”

In “The 2010 NSSEA Retail Market Awareness Study,” a report based on a May 2010 survey of more than 300 K-12 teachers conducted by Perry Research Professionals, it was shown that teachers spent an average $356 of their own money on supplies and resources, including an average of $170 on supplies and $186 on instructional materials.

To Douglas Mirk, a fourth grade teacher at Worthington Elementary School in Inglewood, it is high time that more attention is paid to the personal sacrifices that teachers are routinely forced to make.

“I’m in my 20th year and I’ve always had to dig into my own pocket,” said Mirk, 47, who was nominated for Tools for Teachers. “Last year, the big theme in the district was ‘more with less’ — do more stuff, get higher test scores, but we’re going to give you less stuff to do it with.

“The principal was very supportive last year, and I was an intervention specialist, so I didn’t need as many supplies because I wasn’t in a regular classroom. But I did find myself begging parents and kids to bring in pencils, paper, Kleenex — essential things that kids need to have.”

In previous years, Mirk estimated that he’s spent between $700-$1,000 of his own funds on classroom supplies. Of that amount, he is only able to reclaim the first $250.

“One thing that is the biggest bone of contention is the photocopying,” added Mirk. “We’re constantly required to photocopy things, but we’re limited in the numbers of photocopies we can make in a year — which was 10,000. That has now been cut in half. But we’re expected to raise test scores, so the state puts out … questions to practice with the kids, and we have to copy all of these things.”

Principal Bettye Johnson, of LAUSD’s Western Avenue Elementary School, nominated five instructors for Tools for Teachers.

In an interview, she was unequivocal in her assessment of the problem.

“I had a couple of teachers who went out and bought their own desktop copying machine, because the number of photocopies are regulated monthly,” she said.
“It’s always a crapshoot, and not equitable at all. Maybe some people can put it on their taxes, but as a teacher I spent thousands of dollars and didn’t get reimbursed at all.”

Lured out of retirement to help turn around struggling Hyde Park Elementary School in South L.A., principal Fannie Humphrey sympathized with the sacrifices teachers are required to make.

“This is my second year and supplies are very limited,” said Humphrey, who also made Tools for Teachers nominations.

“However, as principal I feel the teachers need to have resources, because if they don’t they won’t do a good job. So we decided to set aside a pocket of money so teachers will be able to purchase supplies for what they need in the classrooms. It’s money from the school budget, rather than out of their own pockets.”

Asked how these realities impact the teaching profession, Humphrey responded with some resignation.

“I’m sure it affects them economically, but you have to be passionate working in the field of education,” she said. “If it’s a case where teachers feel it would benefit their students and increase their academic growth, then it’s probably something they don’t want to do, but feel they need to.”

That was certainly the case last weekend for Pearl Branch-Jackson, a third grade teacher at Clyde Woodworth Elementary School in Inglewood.

“I will probably hit some of the back-to-school sales,” said Branch-Jackson, 46, who has three children in college and lives in Moreno Valley.

“I guess I’d say I’m upset and disappointed that we have to spend our own money. Last year I spent $300 and wasn’t able to claim any of it back. The money I spend on the school is taking away from my family.”