Teachers would no longer get a $250 tax deduction on classroom supplies they pay for out of their own pockets under the tax plan House Republicans passed on Thursday. That has teachers worried not just about money but about respect for them and their work.
Though [Farmington, Michigan, math and science coordinator Colleen] Stamm is no longer a day-to-day teacher, she says she's disappointed by the prospect of the deduction being eliminated. Teachers feel obligated to provide students with learning materials, she said, and if the government were to eliminate the reimbursement, it sends the wrong message.
"It's just saying to me that my profession is not valued," said Stamm, who serves as the treasurer for her district's chapter of the Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.
Teachers in Overland Park, Kansas, held a school supply donation drive outside the office of Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder. The Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram addressed an editorial to Republican Rep. Kay Granger, calling the elimination of the deduction ”an affront to teachers, who are justifiably angry.”
The Senate tax bill actually expands the deduction to $500, in an apparent effort to keep the vote of Sen. Susan Collins, who was involved in the creation of the $250 deduction to begin with. But the Senate bill would be even worse for school budgets than the House bill, since it completely instead of mostly eliminates the state and local tax deduction, which is crucial to local education funding. So under either of the Republican bills, but especially the Senate one, teachers would be spending a whole lot more money out of pocket for classroom supplies, because school budgets will be even worse off than they are now.