Teachers are putting on their thinking caps — and going hat-in-hand to raise money for basic supplies.
Big Apple teachers are shelling out hundreds if not thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket classroom costs for the new school year — a burden that has become so crushing that educators are even turning to crowdfunding to raise cash, the Post has learned.
“It’s frustrating, especially because I have my own kid and my own family to support,” said Franshesca Chaterpaul, an upper elementary teacher at Bed Stuy’s Brighter Choice Community School.
“If I don’t do donations, I don’t know where I’m going to get things from because I certainly can’t ask my school because we’re really tight on money. I have that burden, along with my colleagues, to figure it out for our kids because we know that they deserve just as much as anybody else.”
Community crowdsourcing resources like GoFundMe and DonorsChoose have slowly become lifelines for New York City teachers — with some campaigns raising upwards of $1,000 per classroom for necessities like printer ink and paper and even the printer itself.
Chaterpaul used the latter organization a number of times throughout her decade-long teaching career, using community aid to bridge the gap between what teachers cannot afford and what the city Department of Education leaves behind.
“Our school is short in technology. I had last year a class of almost 18 children, and only six laptops were provided by the school, so I needed to figure out a way to get donations so that every child had a device,” Chaterpaul said.
For the start of the 2024-25 academic year, Chaterpaul has already skimmed around $100 off her paycheck to stock her classroom with supplies, decorations and learning tools.
The United Federation of Teachers has a reimbursement fund that runs up to $235 — but the total only covers a fraction of what Chaterpaul expects to spend throughout the next nine months.
Educators carved an average of $853.90 out of their own salaries in 2023 to supply their classrooms with decor, cleaning supplies, prizes and even food for their students, according to a study by My Learning World.
New York teachers were among the highest-spending in the nation, shelling out $181.7 million last year to provide their students with not only a basic education but a meaningful learning experience.
The city DOE had a total budget of $39.4 billion for the previous school year, which is used to cover everything from staff salaries and student transportation to lunchroom meals and classroom supplies. In the coming year, the city expects to spend roughly $39,304 per pupil.
Just over 4% of that total budget — or $1.7 billion — is used to cover supplies like textbooks and computers.
That funding is disproportionately distributed throughout the five boroughs, however. Combined with an estimated 18,000 teacher shortage and a starting salary rate of just $72,349, Big Apple educators are forced to stretch their dollars to the max.
One science teacher in the Bronx told The Post she’s utilized online fundraising platforms to stock her classroom with equipment to build a hydroponics system for a green thumb unit.
This year, the veteran teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s already blown through $500 of her own cash to stock her lab, but expects to spend at least $1,000 before her fifth-graders cross the graduation stage.
“There have been times where I was like, ‘Oh, I really don’t want to spend the money,’ but I know my kids need it. You make it happen,” the teacher said.
And it’s not a lack of frugality either — the Bronx teacher has used the same dog, earned and well-loved textbook every year since starting her career nearly three decades ago, but the education landscape has drastically changed over the years.
“Especially post-COVID, there are so many social, emotional needs for children. Depending on where you are and depending on the needs of your children, it is important that you stay current. So that lends itself to having to get additional materials,” the teacher said.
Erick Odom, a history and economics teacher at East Bronx Academy for the Future, also typically shells out $1,000 per year on basics for his students — but expects to add another $4,000 to the tab this year after taking on the responsibility of giving the high school senior class a special and memorable sendoff.
Odom accepts footing the bill because he and his colleagues don’t feel comfortable asking the parents to take it on — leading him to rely on community crowdfunding to secure bigger purchases.
In the last few years, he used DonorsChoose to buy food to run a lunch club he runs out of his classroom as well as replace a 15-year-old shared MacBook.
“I teach government economics — I understand the economics of it, so the city and the state can’t provide everything, but I feel like the community, but I feel that more taxes should go to funding education. It’s pretty frustrating when I had to find things for myself or aks family and friends?” Odom said.
“This is lovely and everything, but why should the community have to come together? I don’t want to burden pants and everything — why should the parents have to buy basic supplies? So that’s what one of my frustrations has always been.”
