Responding to the increasing financial burden

As a new school year gets underway this week across Central Florida, many Orange County teachers continue to buy school supplies and more with their own money.

According to the National Education Association, 90% of teachers across the country spend their own money on school supplies.

For that reason, A Gift for Teaching was created in 1998 by philanthropist Gary Landwith, to provide Orange County teachers with the supplies they need free of cost.

“[He] had friends who were teachers, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing about, how much they were having to spend out of their own pockets. Budgets were being slashed, and more and more children were showing up on the first day of school with nothing,” said Jane Thompson, President and CEO of A Gift for Teaching.

That problem still persists today. According to a survey by A Gift for Teaching, 58% of Central Florida students showed up to the first day of school without all the necessary supplies last school year.

The National Retail Federation reports the average household is spending $874.68 on back-to-school shopping with $141.62 going directly towards school supplies.

Thompson said as more Central Florida families struggle to pay rent and buy groceries, purchases like school supplies can often fall by the wayside.

Teachers often pick up that slack, paying a minimum of $500 dollars to well over $1,000 out of pocket for school supplies and other items needed for student success over the course of a school year, according to Thompson.

“I always say to myself, who among us has to spend that kind of money on supplies to do our jobs?” asked Thompson.

Shopping for the 2024 School Year

Rows of free school supplies and decorations fill up the Free Teacher Supply Store located at the front of A Gift for Teaching’s warehouse in Orlando.

Thompson said during the 2023-2024 school year the non-profit served more than 40% of eligible teachers and hosted more than 19,000 teacher shopping visits distributing more than $11 million worth of school supplies.

She estimates 2,500 Orange County teachers will shop at the Free Teacher Supply Store this month for back to school “shopping.”

“We are constantly striving to get the message out to our teachers about what’s available to them and how much the community really cares in making sure that teachers are not having to spend their own money,” she said.

A Gift for Teaching receives school supplies through donations by community members and local companies.

“We do a big community wide back to school drive, and you’ll see pencils, paper, dry erase markers, art supplies, all the things you might expect and so much more,” said Thompson. “So we’ve taught our community that they can repurpose all of their surplus items to us.”

In addition to donations, some Orange County teachers can receive seasonal supplies for their classroom and students through A Gift for Teaching’s New Teacher Launch Box program.

The program is designed to help first year teachers in schools in underserved areas in Orange County.

“They receive quarterly deliveries of classroom sets of multiple wonderful things, because we want these first year teachers to stay and not feel overwhelmed by not having what they need. I mean, they walk into empty classrooms many times,” said Thompson.

Thompson said the program helps with teacher retention by easing a hefty financial burden. “I would estimate it’s got to be $2.500 to $3,500 a year because it’s class sets.”

A Gift for Teaching also brings the supply store mobile through the Pencil Boy Programs: Pencil Boy Curbside, which offers curbside pickup at the supply store, and Pencil Boy Express, a bus converted into a supply store that visits schools throughout the year.

Funding and Community Support

In the 2024-2025 budget signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, there’s $1.25 billion dollars in funding for teacher salary increases. Back in April, the Orange County Teachers Union approved a historic 9% salary increase.

However, Thompson said it’s not enough.

“I’m sure they were very, very thrilled to have that increase, but we are statistically among the lowest states in terms of what we pay our public school teachers on average,” she said. “That’s kind of unacceptable, and I know it’s something that all of us who really believe in public education really are hoping can change going forward.”

According to the National Education Association, Florida ranks 50 in the nation in regards to average teacher salary.

And with Central Florida’s ongoing population growth, along with Orange County Public School’s estimates it will need to build 15 new schools by 2034 to keep up with the expected student growth, Thompson said they’re always in need of more donations.

“We love to share with our community that for every dollar we receive, we can leverage that by distributing $10 worth of supplies back into the classroom,” she said.

If you’re a teacher looking to access A Gift for Teaching’s services, visit their website.