Teachers across the US spend on average $895 out of pocket on educational materials and other supplies for their classroom [1]. In MA 95% of teachers spend almost $500 of their own money to ensure their students have adequate materials and support to thrive [2]. Teachers should not be funding public school classrooms out of their own paychecks.

A teacher’s purpose is to educate, to be attentive to every type of learner, to create an environment for curious young minds to thrive and explore, to push creative boundaries. This comes with students needing different tools and different accommodations, but current funding is limited and even when available is not sufficient to allow for a variety of educational materials, art supplies, and special needs resources. Teachers use various means, including state and local grants, corporate grants, and crowdfunding to pull together a learning environment that allows every student to succeed.

I ask to allocate, as a budget line item, a classroom “start up and keep up” funding of more than $300 tiered by grade level. I believe, a tiered approach, that is based on general needs of the grade is a good coefficient. I.e, elementary schools need calm down corners, flexible seating, and focus tools. Whereas high schools needs microscopes, calculators, and experimental learning for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and more. Based on the results of the survey[2], the average spend of~$500 is the minimum that should be allocated per teacher per year in the budget.

Every classroom deserves to be a place where students want to be, and feel that they have everything they need.

 Sign the petition now to support the learning environments our children deserve.

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1. https://www.adoptaclassroom.org/2025/06/09/2025-teacher-survey-spending-stats-classroom-needs/
2. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/estable/table/ntps/ntps2021_6801_t12ns