Tennessee Lawmakers Want to Give Teachers More Money for Supplies

Proposed legislation would increase annual stipend from $200 to $500 per teacher

School supplies are displayed at Stationery and Toy World in New York City, N.Y., on July 21, 2021. Joyce Philippe/Reuters

Tennessee lawmakers are looking to give teachers a boost to pay for school supplies instead of using money out of their own pockets. Legislation introduced for the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly would provide teachers with $500 per year to pay for instructional supplies (pdf).

Under the current law, school districts are required to provide K–12 teachers with $200 each year for supplies.

The bill states the money must be given to teachers by Oct. 31 of each school year so the teacher may use it at any time during the year “as determined necessary by the teacher.”

“The purpose of these funds is to permit purchase of items of equipment for the benefit and enhancement of the instructional program,” the legislation reads. “The funds cannot be used for basic building needs such as HVAC, carpets, furniture, items or equipment for the teachers’ lounge, or the like.”

Any funds not spent by the end of each school year must be pooled at the school level for items and equipment for the benefit of all classrooms.

Teachers Spending More and More

The move comes as teachers report they are spending more money out of pocket than ever on supplies for their classrooms.

The National Education Association (NEA) said in a 2022 report that over 90 percent of teachers surveyed said they used their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms.

“When NEA Today asked educators to tell us what they had spent money on so far this year, they had a lot to say: Paper and notebooks, binders and clipboards, crayons and pencils, dry erase markers, glue sticks, and organizing bins came up a lot,” the organization reported. “Some said they have to purchase their own soap and hand sanitizer to supplement what is provided by the district.”

In a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics during the 2014–2015 school year (pdf), 94 percent of teachers said they spent their own money, without reimbursement from the school district, to buy supplies. The average amount the teachers spent was $478.

A separate analysis by My eLearning World estimated that on average, teachers would spend a sum of $820 on school supplies for the 2022–2023 school year, up from an estimated $750 the previous year.

In 2022, federal legislation was passed to allow teachers to deduct up to $300 for out of pocket expenses incurred while purchasing supplies for their classrooms, an increase of $50 from the previous year.

Republican state Rep. Scott Cepicky introduced the bill in the Tennessee House after he said he toured 30 school districts and heard concerns about out-of-pocket spending from teachers, according to WATE, Nashville’s ABC affiliate.

“One thing that’s been a common thread is that teachers are spending a lot of money on their classrooms,” he said. “Some teachers are spending over $1,000.”

“It came from talking to teachers. My father always taught me that if you want to get good information, talk to the boots on the ground,” he told WATE. “Our teachers are the ones that do it every day, they know exactly what they need for their classrooms, they know exactly what the shortcomings are in their classrooms.”

If passed, the act would go into effect July 1, in time for the 2023–2024 school year.