I don't remember seeing a thread like this and I checked and could not find one. I'm curious. How much do you get to spend a year on your classroom? We were kind of talking about this is another thread I posted. One teacher I talked to a few weeks ago said she got 3,000 dollars one year. Is that even something to believe or not? Last year I got like $85. I'm not sure how much we are getting this year.
I really don't believe that anyone is giving their teachers $3000 to spend. Maybe she misunderstood and that's what she personally spent. Anyway, we are supposed to get $300, but they started taking out for printer cartridges. We also get scantrons taken out of that money (if you use them). And there was another mystery amount taken out this year. I still ended up with about $250 to spend.
5 years ago, classroom teachers without labs got $400. That has been cut down to $100 with budget worries. Teachers with labs and our career teachers that have a lot of materials (e.g. welding, wood tech) get more than double teachers with just classrooms (I think ... I know they get more). I am getting a new teacher next door that has never been in the classroom. I didn't spend my $100 and told my admin to add my funds to the new teacher's funds if she needed it, so she has $200 to start.
No she said 3,000. She said she got a rug, kitchen set(K-5) a rocking chair, and a bunch of other stuff. I can't believe that. It was all free money given to the whole grade level.
I get $150 from my building principal for classroom supplies. As a grade level, we have about $700 to spend on handwriting paper and construction paper (split between 7 teachers). As a special education teacher, I get another $300 to spend from my Director of Special Services on teaching materials. ku alum ~ That is so thoughtful of you to give a new teacher your spending money...
3000????????? Where is this school???? I can't imagine, unless it was a brand new school and they were starting from the ground up...
We used to get $300. That's for all supplies though, down to paper and office supplies. This year it's $50.
We don't technically "get" anything to spend. There is just a school budget. If we need things, we get a requisition form and give it to the principal. I've never been turned down for anything, and I've worked for three separate principals at this same school. Some years I don't spend anything. Other years I spend a few hundred dollars.
I get $10 of the kids' $15 supply fee. In theory, I should have around $270. This is new to me, my old school didn't have a supply fee, so I didn't get one. However, I could go to the office any time to get paper, pens, markers, etc. All that's on me, now. I'll probably end up having around $200. That's what it has been the last two years. Both years I had about 7 kids that didn't pay. I'm not going to hound the parents for the money, all were families with multiple kids and very little money. We hold report cards, but they have online access to grades and I conference with the kids about their report cards each six weeks, so the actual paper isn't that big a deal for them.
I got about $1200 because our grade level has a special fund. The rest of the grades get $300. Of course my old school we got $100 and could only order paper clips, sentence strips, and markers........ Old school we had to buy EVERYTHING over and beyond what we could get with our $100 out of a very expensive office catalog. Now most office supplies come free (pens, markers, visa viz, post its, index cards, chart paper of all kinds, etc.)_- even with all the extra money we get. I ordered mostly from Lakeshore - lots of games and books. I love my school and district. I have been there only 1 year, but you can imagine what I thought when I found out how much we got I did think it was for the grade level - they all just laughed at me.
We get zero dollars. We can put in a proposal to PTA if we want something, but it's not likely to get approved.
ku - you are so kind! At the end of each year, we are given a specific amount (I want to say $100) that we can use to order M&S (materials & supplies) from a specific, district-approved catalog. It does not include paper, ink, or toner. School-supplied printers are provided ink & toner - at least some of the time (they only order them once per year, so when we are out, we are out). The M&S did include paper clips, binder clips, staples, etc., so I ordered a lot of "office supplies" that we will use in my classroom. In the fall two years ago, we received a $200 reimbursement for items we had purchased for our classrooms over the summer. Last year, (without notice), the board changed that to a $200 gift card to a local school supply store which was nice, but limiting. Our school board is steadily working on re-vamping the budget, but I have been assured that they have re-approved the $200, but have not decided how we will receive it. Technically, our school has a $10 "supply" fee, but I had a sum total of 0 students turn it in last year.
We get nothing as individual teachers. If there's something we want, we request it from our department chair. If there's money and it's something reasonable--like file folders--we usually get it. All the "above and beyond" stuff comes out of my own pocket, though sometimes a parent will donate specific supplies, like a chart pad.
Get this: last year my friend was given $5,000!!! She taught at a school with only 3 teachers, and they were being moved to another school. Even though they were being moved, the school was still given a $20,000 budget, so the principal just split $15,000 between the 3 teachers. Isn't that CRAZY?!! She has some very nice furniture. My principal doesn't give us an amount. He just tells us to only order what we need. We have a room for basic supplies (paper, pens, markers, binders, etc.), so that's nice. I think I spent about $350 this past year, and my principal approved everything.
Drumroll, please................ ..................................... .................................... ..................................... $0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If we want anything, we gotta pay for it ourselves.
3 years ago we got $100 and could only spend it on 2 stores that barely had anything. Now we get nothing.
This year we were able to order $250 worth of supplies (use to be $300). Department heads are able to place an order for their specific subject area for all teachers without a budget. Whether or not the items get approved is a different story.
Over the past few years, EDF money has been cut to $150.00. I just try to spend it wisely. If it's something that we need that we can't afford, we can go the department head and discuss the matter. Usually, any materials are supplied.
We don't get any money, but have a supply room where you can sometimes find tape, sticky notes, markers, paper clips, glue sticks, staples and folders.
That's how it works for us too. We don't get money, but we have access to the school book store. It contains just about everything in terms of office supllies.
We get $200 from the state every year (around November). Receipts must be kept... if you didn't spend the $200, you're supposed to return the money. This year, our supply budget was cut by 80%... so no money from the school. That'll really hurt when I need colored copy paper.
I almost don't want to post...but I DO get $2000 each year to use on catalogues (school specialty, scholastic) for general classroom supplies such as pencil crayons, teacher books, special art materials. There is also an art order out of a different budget to cover basic art materials (paper, paint), a different workbook budget and one for classroom furniture. What I order is just what's important to me. I feel very lucky to get this. We also have a fantastic PTA that gives us $200 cash at the beginning of the year to buy any other classroom items. Believe it or not, the students also have a supply list and bring their own pencils, glue, erasers etc. I've worked at this school for 5 years and have literally not spent 1 cent of my own money on anything school related...everything is reimbursed. Very thankful for all my school does!!!
Each class received $250. in June to purchase start-up supplies (folders, pencils, notebooks, art supplies, etc) for September. When the new school year budget is finalized, sometime in October, there will be more classroom money (I think last year it was $13/student) for consumable items (again, paper, staples, paperclips, etc). Textbooks funds are a separate budget line, each grade/division receives the same amount and the teachers decide how it will be spent. Specialty teachers (Music, Phys Ed, Special Ed) receive a small amount for materials--last year my Special Ed budget was $400.00. The Parent Council gives each teacher $50. to spend as we see fit for our classroom. Copy paper, printer paper and ink cartridges come out of the office budget. For "special requests" we can talk to the principal and she will often find the funds for us--she paid for newspapers for the three grade 7/8 classes during the Olympics last year. We don't have tons of excess money, but we aren't suffering either.
I agree with ku alum it is interesting how things vary across the districts. It is also extremely nice of her to give her $ budget to the new teacher. I know it is greatly appreciated (I vaguely remember what it was like to be a new teacher and not have any of the things needed to set up a classroom). I know things have changed tremendously just since I have been teaching in Georgia (going on year 8). When I first came here we received $250 twice a year and the PTO gave us $50. A couple of years later it dropped to $150 twice a year. PTO dropped to $25. A couple of years later it dropped to $100. PTO - $0. For this year $88. This doesn't even cover the cost of our toner cartridges for our printers ($93 - we are responsible for paying the difference). We have been told not to expect more either. Not until Christmas if then.
It really depends on the school in our district. If you are in an elementary school, this is the typical set-up: ~The office/workroom has basic office supplies as well as art supplies to use freely. Printer cartridges are a part of that also. ~Each teacher is given a requisition amount that comes directly out of the school budget. In order to spend it, you need to order out of district-approved catalogs, get a purchase-order for a couple of stores in town that will accept them, ask the school secretary/principal for the school credit card, or ask the secretary to place an order online so s/he can use the school CC for payment. At our school, we get $100 to spend. This will vary from school-to-school in our district, ~Our PTA gives us $150 "start-up" money at the beginning of the school year. Well, actually, we have to spend the $, provide them with receipts, and then get reimbursed for the monies. ~Our PTA also provides $5/child as "enrichment money". We have to get preapproval to spend this money from the principal. These monies are designated for purchasing special art project materials, going on a field trip, etc. The monies are to "enrich" their learning.
At my old school there was a supply closet (colored paper, cardstock, crayons, pencils, glue, glue sticks, colored pencils, sentence strips, folders, file folders, scissors, sticky notes in all sizes, and lots of other things. That went "the way of the budget cuts" at the new school.
Aw, thanks guys, for noting my contribution to the new teacher next door. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
We don't get any money, but we are allowed to order some stuff from the district warehouse. I ordered a class set of colored pencils, high lighters, dry erase markers, blue pens, and erasers. I also got construction paper, printer paper, and some lined writing paper.
We can order, within reason, at the end of the year for the ofllowing year. I'm not sure how much individual grade levels get. We also have a supply closet with a lot of the basics- construction paper, teacher office supplies, sentence strips, poster board, etc, that we can either just go get, or request, depending on the school. At least, that's how it was last year. Hoping it's similar at my new building because I didn't order those things. Teachers also get $250 per year that we can get reimbursed from receipts we've turned in... so if I find tissue paper or whatever at Michael's, I can get it reimbursed rather than ordering it. That being said, it also seems that if we really need something, they'll find a way to get it covered through the budget. Our Asst Supt, who's in charge of the PreK program budget, isn't particularly know for letting us know how much money we have to spend... at the end of the year, I went to her with "I need to order some things that are appropriate for my sped 3's who are often mouthing things, because what's in the closet is limited in its appropriateness" and got told "we still have money in the budget. Order more, just have the secretary put it on this year's budget." I desperately needed a new table for my classroom because all the ones I had were too tall for the tiny kids I was getting... so my P took it out of her discretionary fund. I really didn't expect that, but i very much appreciated it. My favorite part is that if I want to do a cooking project or need grocery store-type items (napkins, cups, whatever), our program has a credit card to Jewel that we can use to purchase those items. We just send the receipt over to the district office. It's REALLY nice... this year, we're at all 3 of the elementary schools in the district, so I have to know in advance that i need to go in order to coordinate getting the card... but that's a small inconvenience for actually being able to get what I need I'm lucky.
Wow we have 0 all the way to 5,000. So now I know the lady I was talking to was serious. I would love that much money especially as a first year teacher. The only downside is if you transfer schools you can't keep all the pretty rugs and nice things you may have ordered. When I really think about it though I don't know if there is much I would want to buy right now. Maybe a rug and a nice pencil sharpener.
I'm guessing I don't get any funds (does it matter its a title 1 school?) But did just get an email that i'll be getting a bag of this. Stapler and staples Tape dispenser and tape Dry erase markers and a board eraser Highlighters 25 hanging files (maybe more...) 100 manila files Box of 50 pencils, plus a few ballpoint pens Glue sticks and Elmers glue White-out 100 Index cards Several colored map pencils and colored markers
We had about $1,800 this year as a team (6 teachers). We let everyone order the basic supplies that we needed, and then decided to order a writing program with the leftover money. Luckily, as a Title 1 school, we get a little more money than others. My principal also allows new teachers/teachers in a brand new classroom to have additional money. Obviously, if they don't have desks or tables, they need those!
That's the one good thing about spending all of my own money-my stuff will come with me wherever I go!
