Educators Spend own Money to Cover Education Gaps

A survey of educators says most of them continue to spend significant amounts of their own money on classroom supplies and equipment to make up for budget cuts.

The Horace Mann Educator Survey gathered information from 814 educators and found that last school year, 13 percent spent more than $600; 13 percent spent between $400 and $600; 30 percent spent between $200 and $400; 21 percent spent between $100 and $200; 11 percent spent between $50 and $100; and 8 percent spent between $1 and $50.

The survey also found that 62 percent of educators abandoned two or more projects during 2012-13 because their school could not afford it.

In identifying materials or projects whose costs were not covered by a school, 51 percent of educators said general classroom supplies were involved; 40 percent said math and science activities; and 39 percent said reading and language activities.

The most common action schools took to address budget cuts, the survey says, was increasing class sizes; 60 percent of those questioned said their school opted for larger classes.