Shanna Danielson, a music teacher at Bermudian Springs Middle School near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, admits she spent a “stupid amount” of her own money on artificial plants to transform her cinderblock-walled classroom into a cozy jungle. Her son donated many of the stuffed animals that peek through the leaves at practicing students.
She also loves buying props that add pizzazz to band performances, including a penguin cutout that stood onstage as students performed “Penguin Promenade” during the 2024-25 school year.
“I’m ashamed to admit I spent like $50,” she said. “But you should have seen the joy on their faces.”
Teachers like Danielson can spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket trying to make learning fun for students. Other teachers might spend just as much on necessary school supplies like pencils and books, especially at low-income schools where resources are sparse and families can’t afford to buy their own materials. Some teachers buy snacks for their classrooms, too, knowing kids need fuel to focus.
“Not only are teachers expected to fill in those gaps where students can’t get their own school supplies − so we’re buying pencils and notebooks and pens − we’re also constantly replacing these items, you know, because things get lost or things get broken,” said Adriana Ocañas, consumer credit cards analyst at U.S. News & World Report. Ocañas spent three years as a teacher before switching careers.
During the 2024-25 school year, teachers spent, on average, $884 of their own money − $3.35 billion total − on cleaning supplies, prizes, snacks, decorations, books, pens, paper, hand sanitizer and more, according to My eLearning World. A survey from Adopt A Classroom found teachers on average spent $895 out of pocket on school supplies − a 49% increase since 2015.
Teachers told the USA TODAY Network the amount they spend varies. Other educators rely on local grants, donations and online wish lists through Amazon, Adopt A Classroom, Donors Choose and other platforms to stock their classrooms.
One teacher near Seattle promotes other teachers’ wish lists online, and Emmy Award-winning actress Kristen Bell noticed. Bell cleared some of the teachers’ wish lists on Sarah Stair’s website last year, and Bell recently gifted Stair $25,000 to help clear teachers’ wish lists ahead of the 2025-26 school year.
“Every year most teachers use their own paychecks to make sure schools are a happy and safe place for our kids,” Bell wrote in an Instagram post on Aug. 15. “Please consider donating if you can and let’s show up for our educators!”
“I was shocked,” Stair said about getting Bell’s attention for the first time. “I thought it was fake at first.”
Stair enjoys helping fellow teachers with school supplies, but she said there are many other issues in education that put a strain on teachers.
“I can’t necessarily make a huge, systemic change overnight happen, but hopefully I can bring awareness to people who don’t realize how much teachers are having to invest,” Stair said.
In 2023–2024, the national average public school teacher salary rose by 3.8% to $72,030, according to the most recent National Education Association Educator Pay in America report. But average teacher pay hasn’t kept up with inflation, the report found, and nearly 17% of American school districts offer starting salaries less than $40,000.
“America needs to do better” in funding schools and paying teachers what they deserve, said Princess Moss, the association’s vice president.
“Teachers are going to do what they need to do to ensure that their students have what they need in order to survive and to thrive,” Moss said.
‘I don’t feel like money should ever keep somebody from… learning.’
Danielson said she spends roughly $400 to $600 each year on students. Though her district gives her a small annual budget for beefing up her classroom instrument inventory, the funds are for approved vendors that mostly sell new instruments. She can’t use this money to snap up a cheap find from eBay, and it doesn’t stretch as far as she’d like.
So, sometimes she dips into her personal money when she stumbles across a good-quality flute on Facebook Marketplace or a trombone at a garage sale.
“It’s very frustrating,” she said. “I don’t feel like money should ever keep somebody from loving or learning music.”
Teachers “are feeling squeezed,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.
“They need more resources to help make their classrooms the safe and welcoming places that students need to learn,” Weingarten said. “What other professionals are asked to fund their work like teachers?”
At Coachella Valley High School in Thermal, California, history teacher Perla Penalber estimates her yearly out-of-pocket spending at $1,800 for classroom basics, club expenses and items to make her room more welcoming.
She doesn’t ask families for contributions or post online wish lists, since many of her students come from migrant families working in agriculture and often face financial hardship.
Budget cuts and inflation only add to the challenge. But it’s worth it, Penalber said, especially when she sees even reluctant learners motivated by the activities she’s able to provide.
“It’s not about how much you’re getting out of it,” Penalber said. “It’s more about what you’re giving back that’s going to continue to give to the future — and hopefully they’ll take that with them.”
This counselor spent $300 per month feeding, clothing students
Teachers aren’t the only school employees spending their own money to help students.
Lakeesha Bair-Myers, a social worker at a central Pennsylvania school district, said she’s become an expert coupon clipper and bargain hunter as she stocks up on food and clothes for students.
Bair-Myers, who’s worked at Reynolds Middle School in Lancaster since 2017, said she purchases school supplies in bulk at Staples during store clearances and once grabbed 40 sweatshirts from Kohl’s because they were on a steep markdown.
These finds are stored in a small office that she calls the “care closet,” where students can browse for toiletries, socks, underwear, food, shoes and other items they and their families might need.
She said 40 to 50 students come to her each day for breakfast, lunch or snacks.
Bair-Myers relied on her own money − about $300 per month, with coupons − when she was feeding 10 kids per day. But in recent years, her community’s needs have dramatically increased. Now, she said she gets help from community organizations that contribute food and monetary donations.
“It causes a great amount of stress and uneasiness because teachers are facing the same financial hurdles that our students’ families are feeling,” Bair-Myers said.
Supporting teachers brings communities together
Tariffs could impact school supplies this school year, Ocañas said, especially on items like backpacks, laptops, clothes, shoes, pencils and pens. Eight in 10 teachers in the Adopt A Classroom survey said inflation and rising costs of school supplies were a concern.
And a recent U.S. News & World Report survey found parents might not be as willing to help teachers out because of rising costs.
The share of Americans planning to spend $101 to $300 per child when shopping for back-to-school dropped from 52% last year to 41% this year, survey data shows. More than one-third of caregivers said they’d only donate $20 or less to their kid’s classroom for supplies this school year.
Still, Ocañas suggests teachers reach out to their community for help if they need it.
Given the opportunity, the Covington, Kentucky, community came out in full force to support their teachers during a school supply event in August. The Kenton County Public Library branch in Covington found a surplus of gently used supplies while restructuring the building, and then community members donated other new and used items to the cause. Dagmar Morales, the branch’s programming coordinator, said 85 teachers and homeschool families picked up supplies during the event.
Morales estimates the supplies added up to about $10,000. Teachers told her they felt overwhelmed by the support, she said. She hopes the library can pull off the event again next year.
“It was an event that brought the community together,” Morales said.
Madeline Mitchell’s role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Reach Madeline at memitchell@usatoday.com and @maddiemitch_ on X.
