Arkansas teachers feel financial burden of back-to-school season, regardless of raises • Arkansas Advocate

As Arkansas educators prepare their classrooms for students’ return this month, many will spend  hundreds of dollars on materials that supplement supplies parents purchase for their children.

The Arkansas LEARNS Act, a major education overhaul championed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, raised the base pay for teachers to $50,000. But teachers say the pay increase isn’t enough when they still use personal funds for classroom expenses throughout the year.

Leron McAdoo typically spends at least $300 of his own money each year on “utilitarian” supplies for his classroom, such as educational and motivational posters, electrical cords and tape to display student work. He doesn’t expect this year to be any different, especially as he works to stock a new classroom.

McAdoo, who has 32 years of experience as an educator, is taking on a new role this school year as an interventionist teacher at Little Rock School District’s new Dr. Marian G. Lacey K-8 Academy. 

McAdoo said there is also a “hidden cost of teaching,” which can include buying students clothes or food if they need it.

“Actually reaching children is the fact that you have to be human and recognize and have empathy for the situations that the children find themselves in,” McAdoo said. “Are you going to let a child starve?”

The raises from the LEARNS Act aren’t enough when the money is going back to the classroom and not the teacher’s pocket, McAdoo said.

“Teachers are not making a lot of money in the first place,” he said. “So, any extra burden on them to add supplies — you wouldn’t ask that of a firefighter, you wouldn’t ask that of an attorney, you wouldn’t ask that of any other profession. …But teachers are sort of expected by society to fill these gaps with their resources.”

Innovative solutions

Arkansas school districts provide teachers with an annual budget to supply their classrooms, though the amount varies. The budget decisions are made at the local level, and the Department of Education does not track the data, spokesperson Kimberly Mundell said.

In Rogers, teacher Samantha Harp is gearing up for her third year in the classroom, and her first time teaching fifth grade. Harp covers math, reading, writing, science and social studies on her own, which can lead to a lot of necessary supplies.

Harp said she has about half of the supplies she needs for the upcoming school year by using items from her former third-grade classroom at a different district. And while the Rogers School District does provide Harp with some items she needs, she estimated that she will spend at least $500 to be fully prepared. 

One of Harp’s primary goals is to create a welcoming environment that her students want to return to. She also aims to keep kids engaged with activities off of the computer.

Grade-appropriate books, stickers for good behavior incentives and manipulatives like magnetic blocks, dice games and fidget toys for kids to utilize when their work is complete are all things on Harp’s shopping list before the first day of school.

“Teachers that have been teaching for more than five years, they have a lot of what they need,” Harp said. “But I’m still gathering all those things. I try to go on Facebook Marketplace or look at garage sales.”

The beginning of the year is especially difficult, Harp said, because she won’t receive her first paycheck until mid-September. By the end of the school year, Harp said she will likely put $1,000 of her own money into her classroom.

The raise from the LEARNS Act didn’t have much of an effect on Harp’s salary, she said, but she did receive a routine raise from her previous employer. Aside from helping stay afloat with the current economy in Northwest Arkansas, Harp said the raise wasn’t particularly helpful for supplementing extra supplies.

Cara Maxwell’s experience as a Pre-K teacher in the Springdale School District — which offered the highest starting pay in the state last year at $53,000 — is a bit different than those working K-12, she said. Her district typically provides about $500 to $800 for annual supplies, most of which Maxwell spends on items her students will consume during the year.

Even with the allotted budget, Maxwell chose to make an Amazon wishlist this year and post it online for people to donate to her classroom.

She listed items that will be used year after year in her room including pillows for a “cozy corner,” fluorescent light covers to soften the room and various toys like Play-Doh, dice and a child-sized wheelbarrow.

“We are given a budget every year; however, a lot of the things that I put on there aren’t typically things that I would necessarily be able to buy,” Maxwell said. “I wouldn’t be able to get everything. Some years I may need more supplies than others.”

Maxwell has been teaching for 10 years, and she said she is generally pretty comfortable when it comes to supplying her classroom with the necessary materials. She also typically participates in a grant matching program to further supply her room.

Parents’ role

Along with the cost teachers pay, most parents are also expected to send their children to school with fresh supplies for the year. According to an article published in The 74 last August that explored charity use among parents and teachers, the price for school supplies increased 28% from 2022. According to a study by World Remit, the average cost of school supplies per child in the United States last year was $229.

As Back-to-School Costs Soar, More Parents & Teachers Turn to Charities for Help

Vann Vaupel, a parent of two students who attend the Conway School District, said while his family is currently in a good financial position, it wasn’t always that way. 

“We were struggling to pay our bills so an extra expense hurt — especially for things they never ended up using,” Vaupel said of past experiences. “We would wait until the last minute because the money just wasn’t there.”

The school supply list for one child attending third grade in the Conway School District totaled nearly $70 before taxes, according to a compilation of the products on walmart.com.

“By the time we went to the store almost everything was sold out,” Vaupel recalled. “We couldn’t get the colors of folders and such our kids wanted, which can mean a lot to a young kid. It broke our hearts. Also waiting until the last minute can mean you have to buy more expensive options because the budget ones are sold out. Being broke can be very expensive.”

Vaupel’s children in public school will be going into 10th and third grade this year. In addition to buying their necessary supplies, Vaupel said he plans to donate to teachers who have posted wish lists for underprivileged students.