It’s old news by now that teachers spend their own money on classroom supplies, but a new Washington Post report finds that the problem is even bigger than we knew. (And we knew it was big.) The Post asked teachers to tell what classroom supplies they buy and how much they spend, and got 1,200 responses.
“I am a scavenger,” said one Michigan teacher. “My friend who works in the Michigan [Department of Natural Resources] office gives me their used binders, and my husband brings me furniture and supplies that the hospital he works at is throwing away.”
According to an Ohio teacher, “We are literally collecting pop tabs to recycle so we can buy more stuff.” A California teacher takes “discarded things off the side of the road.”
Teachers are making up for what cities and towns should be providing their schools to begin with—basic necessities at the level people in just about every other job can take for granted. “I’m often bowled over by the fact that financiers and software engineers can show up to work expecting to have every supply they could possibly need,” said a New York teacher.
And it must be the government that pays for needed supplies. Education is a public good that should be handled in a public way, not reliant on individuals. Another teacher told The Post that she hates coverage of donors fulfilling teachers’ wishlists for supplies, because “It normalizes this begging practice. If we properly funded schools and trusted teachers, we could stop seeing teachers beg online and restore their dignity.” And take the luck out of it, where some classrooms get everything they need and others are left wanting.
This is a sign of so many things wrong with U.S. society and politics. It shows the low, low value placed not just on teachers but on kids and on the very concept of education. Teachers have been fighting and still are fighting to fix it, but it can’t just be on them.
● Check out the full list here.
● Unions are pushing members to run for office—and it's paying off.
In the 2018 election cycle, the labor federation endorsed about 1,500 union members for elected office at the local, state and federal levels. Most were Democrats, but there were also some Republicans and independents. Two-thirds of them won.
● With the help of teachers unions, the climate strikes could be moving into phase two.
● Fight for racial justice fuels Little Rock educator strike preparations.
Led by the LREA, community members mobilized this October to protest what they identified as the re-segregation of the Little Rock schools. Banners reading “Separate is not equal—one district for all students” were hung on the highway overpass that divides the Black neighborhoods from the white neighborhoods. Thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil to insist that the state return local control to the entire district.
● Welcome developments on limiting non-compete agreements.
There is a growing bipartisan consensus that non-compete agreements harm workers and the economy. This bipartisanship scarcely seemed possible back in 2015 when we were government lawyers coordinating investigations by the Offices of the Illinois and New York Attorneys General into Jimmy John’s use of non-compete agreements for sandwich makers and delivery drivers. But earlier this month, in what seems like the first bipartisan federal effort in far too long, Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced a bipartisan bill that would effectively stop the abuse of non-compete agreements. This builds on a year in which six state legislatures also passed significant non-compete reforms.
● In Maryland, a judge says that the Hogan administration violated labor laws.
