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Education

Elementary School

Teachers Spend an Average of $500 of Their Own Money on School Supplies. Here Are 11 Things to Buy to Help Them Out

Preschool teacher with kids having creative activities

Lordn—Getty Images/iStockphoto

Teachers need the support of parents to help them educate kids — and not just by backing up the lessons learned in the classroom. Increasingly, teachers need the financial support of parents.

As back-to-school season arrives, it's worth highlighting the alarming fact that the typical teacher personally shells about $500 each year on classroom supplies that districts no longer provide: A whopping 94% of public school teachers spend their own money on school supplies, a recent Department of Education survey found, with the average teacher spending $497.

Not surprisingly, the Department of Education found that teachers who work in schools where more kids qualify for free or subsidized lunches wind up spending more of their own money to make sure their students have the supplies they need.

As parents around the country are well aware, many schools (public and private) now ask families to contribute things to schools like paper towels, tissues, crayons, hand sanitizer, and trash bags so that teachers won't have to buy them out of their own pockets.

Fortunately, this is the time of year when stores like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Office Depot are loaded with deals on just the kinds of school supplies that teachers need, including popular name brand items that are need badly in classrooms. The takeaway for parents is that it's easier and more affordable to help your kid's teachers. Here’s Money’s roundup of some of the best deals on classroom and art supplies you can buy on sale and donate to schools.