How much do you spend on supplies?

[BorisBaby]

Just a quick question for the teachers and TA's how much do you spend on your class room a year out o your own money?

TA- I've spent about £50 since September: packs of pens, decent pencil sharpener, stamps for reading records, plastic wallets, post-it notes, highlighter pens etc.

On top of that I've made stuff from my own fabric stash, donated cushion pads and games/books my own children have finished with.

I've just given up this year asking for basic equipment, I've been buying lots myself.

Primary schools in America ask for glue sticks and things from parents. I imagine we are going that way.

Thank you for getting back to me. I'm the new chair of the pta and wondered how common it is for teachers and TA's to spend on supplies I read that 92% of American teachers spend up to 1000usd on supplies

I would like some of the money we make to buy stuff that she school needs rather than wants. Would I be out of order to write a note to the teachers at DD's school asking if they use their personal money on stuff? As well as asking what they would buy that would be useful?

I would check with the governors once you have funds spare and ask what they think, as I expect going to the teachers directly would be frowned upon.

It's a lovely idea!

I'm a Bursar in a primary school. I hate it when teachers buy things they need themselves, it seems like poor planning to me.

Yes, budgets are tight, but there's honestly no need for that. Often teachers have bought things without even asking because they think it's easier than following due process. Their choice I suppose but it's not because they couldn't have had it if they'd asked.

There's no way on earth a ta who needed post its and a pencil sharpener would be told no, unless they'd missed some cutoff for getting the orders in

In 5 years I have spent £3. As daimyou pointed out, this was because I couldn't wait for it to be processed as it was needed that week.
A number of colleagues are always moaning about what they spend. It's their choice. They don't want to fill in the form and wait. They would rather pay over the odds and buy themselves. As well as general supplies each class/department have a budget. Been the case in several schools I have worked in.

£0, but I don't count any fancy pens or folders that I like to use.
Sorry, but I am not spending any of my hard earned cash on something the school has a budget for. If there is no budget, then the school obviously doesn't need it and we'll have to do without!

Of course there is a budget if there wasn't no-one gets paid! Maybe your schools "spend" it all in the budget setting process but it is there. Slt have decided you don't need things they haven't budgeted for, so either you or your dept/year head haven't adequately made your case or you don't need it and certainly shouldn't be buying it yourself - unless you want to, which is your choice.

Just because there's no class budget doesn't mean there's no cash. If you make a decent case for what you need you'll probably get it, within reason. Don't moan about "having" to buy it yourself if you haven't asked.

I expect the school to buy all consumables (pens, papers, art supplies, etc) or things that will remain the property of the school such as manipulatives. I also expect the school to provide laminating pouches for me to use at home, although I use my own laminating machine. A lot of my planning is done at home in the evenings, so I'd rather be able to just put it through the machine as I'm doing it at home. I'll also liberate (with permission) a block of A4 paper every so often to stock up at home because I do print a fair bit at home.

I'll buy things that I want to keep for myself. Most of what I've spent is probably on children's books, as I don't want to leave them behind if I leave the school. I keep a record of everything that I do buy, and will certainly take it with me when I move on.

We used to get a certain number of glue sticks, pens etc to "last the year". If I went back to my HoD for more, the budget would already have been spent on other stuff we also need like website subscriptions, software etc which I really couldn't afford. Also, they wouldn't let you order anything anyway from February until - oh - after April, so what are you supposed to do.

Slt have decided you don't need things they haven't budgeted for, so either you or your dept/year head haven't adequately made your case or you don't need it

Sadly, this is true - SLT were often critical that you had used your resources too quickly or that - shock/horror - some pupils may have stolen or damaged some . So in order to keep your inefficiency the fact that there is no support from above for poor behaviour such as stealing and damaging teacher's own equipment under wraps, you just go and buy some yourself.

You just get ground down and go for the simplest and quickest option.

Sorry - should have made it clear that if pupils had stolen/damaged your stuff, you would be blamed for poor classroom control and probably put on some sort of monitoring system. Compared with that, a few quid spent on glue sticks and pens is far preferable.