Associated Press
Andrea Almond
LOS ANGELES – If Doreen Seelig pocketed all the money she’s spent on classroom supplies during her 35 years as a teacher — the printer cartridges, paper, pencils and paperback books to loan her Venice High School students — she figures she’d have a new car.
State and federal tax breaks never fully covered the collective tens of millions teachers shell out, but they did provide some relief. Not anymore.
As schools reopen, the personal burden Seelig and other California teachers bear just got a lot heavier.
As part of last month’s budget compromise, the state suspended its on-again, off-again Teacher Retention Tax Credit, which repaid public school educators up to $1,500 for classroom supplies or other expenses.
Meanwhile, a $250 federal tax deduction that helped defray out-of-pocket spending expired this year.
Seelig says she still won’t hesitate to buy hundreds of dollars worth of basic materials that districts don’t provide — and she’ll still drive her 1991 Acura.
“What are we going to do, tell the kids, ‘Sorry, there’s no paper today,’ or tell them they can’t print because there’s no ink?” Seelig asks. “I know I couldn’t do it.”
This issue extends beyond California. Teachers nationwide have long grappled with a lack of supplies, and few received any tax relief in the first place.
Even when breaks are proposed, as in Arizona last year, the teachers’ lobby may be opposed, saying the solution is more state funds for education, not credits for teachers shouldering the burden of inadequate supplies. The loss of tax credits comes as school districts across California are tightening their budgets while being pressured to raise test scores, according to teacher advocates. For young teachers at the lowest end of the pay scale, the loss of the credit is all the more drastic.
“The end of the tax benefits is effectively a tax increase for teachers — people who spend thousands of their own dollars each day for their classrooms and who don’t deserve a tax increase,” said California Teachers Association President Barbara Kerr.
Barney Hale, executive director of the 1,800-member Modesto Teachers Association, is not sure what impact the loss will have.
“It probably won’t have much effect on what they purchase,” he said. “They still will expense the same amount of money because they are dedicated to kids and the profession.”
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Doreen Seelig buys many of the periodicals that her students thumb through to glean information for class projects.
REED SAXON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students can suffer academically when they don’t have the basics — pencils, erasers, notebooks, tissues. Parent-teacher organizations and private groups often take an active role in donating supplies, but it’s an imperfect alternative, educators say — while rich districts ultimately get what they need, poor ones come up short.
And while teachers who fill the gap say they often pay enough that they feel the pinch personally, the spending isn’t often great enough to itemize as deductions on their taxes.
By ditching its tax break, California joined most of the rest of the nation. National teacher organizations don’t keep track, but it appears few states now offer teachers any relief at all.
Arkansas requires that school districts reimburse teachers for up to $500 of out-of-pocket expenses. Texas officials have allocated $3 million to compensate public school teachers. Between that and local government funding, Texas teachers might get $400 worth of reimbursements this school year.
In Los Angeles, a teachers union survey reported the union’s approximately 35,000 members spent, on average, a little more than $1,000 on school supplies last year. Nationwide, teachers ponied up $458 on average, according to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, a Maryland-based trade group.
Some teachers will ration spending
Elementary teachers might be the most affected because they constantly change their room decor, Hale said.
Gary McBride, a kindergarten teacher at Fremont Elementary School in Modesto, said he spends several hundred dollars at the beginning of each school year and shells out more throughout the year.
He spends a chunk of money on workbooks, office and art supplies as well as oversized pencils and CDs. A recent purchase were 50 $1 plastic bags with handles, for carrying homework.
“I’m more aware, but I probably won’t spend any less,” said McBride, a teacher of 15 years. “There are certain things you need to get.”
Karl Kaku, an English teacher at Fresno High School for 10 years, said he spent $200 on supplies before this year’s classes even started.
“Stuff to write with, stuff to write on: pens, paper, overhead transparencies, overhead markers, ink cartridges,” said Kaku, who makes $56,000 a year. “Some years, there’s some money. Others, there’s nothing. This year there’s nothing.”
During a teachers meeting before school started, many of Kaku’s colleagues complained that without the teacher credit, finding extra cash became even harder.
In the Canoga Park section of Los Angeles, teacher and expectant new mother Jennifer Flores said she has already rationed her spending.
“We’ll do without some of the things I would usually buy,” she said. “And the worst thing about it all is that it’s the kids who end up suffering the most.”
The California credit was first offered in 2000 as a way to keep teachers from quitting. Teachers with four to 11 years in the profession received $250 to $500. Those more experienced could receive up to $1,500.
The credit was suspended in 2002 as state legislators battled a budget gap. It was resurrected for the 2003-04 tax year, at a cost of $180 million to the state. Last month, legislators suspended the relief until 2007.
Parent and teacher groups, as well as private companies, are scrambling to cushion the blow.
The Los Angeles teachers union has teamed with a Spanish-language radio station in asking donors to fill supply wish lists that ranged from glue sticks, pencils, crayons and manila folders to socks and underwear for lower-income districts.
Spending shortfalls across the nation.
One Web site, iLoveSchools.com, matches teachers with donors.
The nonprofit organization, launched in July by a San Diego-based Internet company, has already attracted teachers from every state — more than 10,000 in all — said site founder Jerry Hall.
While the group has received about $90,000 in donations, Hall said that’s far short of the estimated $6 million the teachers who’ve written his organization have spent.
Indeed, stopgap spending is not just an issue in California.
Across the country, educators have long been personally making up for budget shortfalls.
Teachers in states including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, haven’t had anything like California’s now-suspended tax credit. Educators, many of whom spent far more than the $250 they could claim as a federal tax deduction, just made do.
Some teachers say the end of federal aid is another example of how undervalued they are.
“We have underpaid teachers and we’re offered a carrot for one year and then it’s taken away,” said Shirley Andrews, who has taught at the Mukilteo School District near Seattle for almost 30 years. “It’s sending the message that the government doesn’t care.”
The National Education Association and some lawmakers are working to reinstate the federal teacher deduction, which was introduced in 2002 but expired at the end of 2003. The House passed a bill last year that would make permanent a $400 deduction. A similar piece of legislation has been introduced in the Senate.
Legislative efforts have stalled in some states.
In Arizona, legislator Dean Martin introduced a bill the last two years that would have reimbursed teachers $250 each year.
Teachers unions helped shoot it down each time.
“Tax credits are bad public policy, even if they are a benefit to our members,” said John Wright, president of the Arizona Education Association. “If teachers are spending their own money for supplies … then that’s an indication of unmet needs. We should be providing schools with the funds needed rather than reimbursing teachers.”
Bee staff writer Elizabeth Johnson contributed to this report.
September 21, 2004
As reprinted from the Modesto Bee, Modesto CA.
Gary Drexler, of McKees Rocks, who is with the Sto-Rox School District, arrives at the empty