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One would think the schools should get enough money to buy paper and pencils. They don't. So they hit up the parents who often don't bring anything. So a young teacher has to use money from her meager annual salary to buy paper and pencils along with facial tissue and many other items.Originally Posted by Curt Harms
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Most school districts have added quite a few admin staff over the past decade or two. Now, some of the new admin staff are to deal with new state and federal regulations, but if they could cut one or two administrative staff that could increase the classroom supplies budget by quite a bit. Some of the stuff teachers buy might be to supply individual students, but most would be classroom supplies the school doesn't have money for. Supplies like white board markers, stuff to hang on the walls, and the like. Some schools also limit how much paper teachers can use for copies for tests, handouts, and the like so teachers might have to bring in their own paper.
I graduated high school in 1990 and my parents always had to provide me with stuff like crayons, notebooks, folders, pens/pencils, construction paper, writing paper, and other supplies.
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School districts and other government entities always cut the services that directly impact the taxpayers first when money is tight. They hope that taxpayers will allow tax increases when services that directly impact them are cut. School districts will cut teachers, sports, and other things that directly impact students instead of cutting behind the scenes. The schools know that a levy referendum is more likely to pass if the money will be used to hire back teachers and bring back sports. Cities will cut things like road repair, firefighters, police officers, snow plowing, and other services that directly impact taxpayers. They rarely cut on the back end where most taxpayers wouldn't even know government employees were laid off.
Cities with full time council members often have administrative assistants. It makes more sense to make the council members share assistants rather than cutting services to taxpayers.
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Happened here this November.
School districts are so used to asking for money from the voters and getting it, they were shocked when in about half the districts the "Increase the spending" measures DID NOT PASS.
Some were really close counts, some weren't.
The message the voters sent was: "You don't need more money. You need to better manage/budget the money you have." Which is true... there's not a little fat and deadwood in PS administration, at least where I am.
Last edited by Patty Hann; 11-27-2023 at 6:24 PM.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
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I graduated in '68 and actually remember quite a bit of it, but I don't recall needing any crayons or construction paper those four years...they tell me I graduated in 72 ... but I don't remember it
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
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Quit bragging, Lee.
< insert spurious quote here >
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'Cause Lee KNEW how to stay inside the lines when HE colored stuff
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
Contributor
The school districts "hope" to get more money from taxpayers by cutting teachers, and other expenses, that directly impact students. It doesn't always happen.
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I remember hearing that Ike won the presidency while at school, and I was carrying my own pencils and paper...5th grade maybe. Graduated in '60. Schools never provided essentials in my school years. Cannot remember Kindergarten, maybe crayons and pics to fill in there.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Contributor
Yup. The obvious exceptions were shop and science classes, although we usually had to pay for shop project materials.
"Read chapter 9 and don't forget to bring in a cup of mercury fulminate for tomorrow's experiment!"
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Contributor
I've waited to see if anyone else found irony in an original post mocking the kids working at the grocery store for their lack of arithmetic skills, yet misspells amalgamated in the post title!
People in glass houses....
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Good one!
However, my giant, biological-computer, brain did an automatic spell-check correction before passing it on to the processing core.
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I caught it (always class champion in Spelling BeesI've waited to see if anyone else found irony in an original post mocking the kids working at the grocery store for their lack of arithmetic skills, yet misspells amalgamated in the post title!
People in glass houses....).
When it comes to "forum disagreements" I'm pretty circumspect in choosing the hill on which I'm willing to die.
Last edited by Patty Hann; 11-28-2023 at 1:04 PM.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
Contributor
When I was in elementary school, middle school and high school in the 1970s and 1980s, I was never required to bring any school supplies to share with my classmates. Every parent I talk with today says they must provide lots of school supplies which are shared among the students.
Contributor
I always remember doing the back-to-school shopping with my mom, loading up on supplies like pencils, paper, crayons, etc., every year. We weren't asked to share or buy for others, but were expected to supply our own. For shop class, there was an extra fee that paid for the leatherworking and drafting portion of the class, and for the woodworking portion, we had to supply our own material. I was lucky that my dad owned a local lumberyard/Ace Hardware store at the time, so I wasn't limited on what I could choose to build.
I have a good friend who is a teacher in the Boise, ID area, and last year, he made a list of supplies he needed for his classroom and shared it with his Facebook friends. My wife and I elected to purchase a few of the items for him, such as large packs of pens and pencils. It does show just how times have changed in the education system.
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