When a new school year is beginning, it is not unusual for a teacher to spend hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies that aren’t provided in a school’s budget.
It’s a practice that plays out in schools across the country, where teachers use their own money to buy everything from staplers, tape dispensers, pens, folders and crayons for their students, plus supplies for their own desks and sometimes larger items like chairs, rugs and lamps.
In a survey of 1,100 school employees, the Association of American Educators found that teachers spent an average of $673 a year, according to an August 2023 report in Education Week.
A new program sponsored by the Christian County Public Schools Education Foundation will take a small bite out of that expense for local teachers.
The Teacher Corner, located in a mobile unit behind the new Martin Luther King Jr. Early Learning Center at Blane Drive and Country Club Lane, is stocked floor to ceiling with supplies that teachers can get at no cost. It opened Tuesday, and during the next two weeks every teacher in the district can get about $20 worth of supplies. (The mobile unit previously was Sandy’s Corner, a school resource center at Indian Hills Elementary School. It was named for Sandra McGinnis, a veteran teacher at Indian Hills who died in September 2002 in an automobile crash in Trigg County.)
“We wanted to do something where we could alleviate some of that financial burden,” said Beverly Fort, the district’s teacher recruiter.
When she began her teaching career about 30 years ago, Fort was fortunate to go into a kindergarten classroom at Morningside Elementary School that was already well stocked by a veteran educator. But that’s not the case for every teacher.
Often the supplies that teachers buy are things they want to create a setting that is inviting to students. They also buy supplies to make their lessons more effective.
“When students feel good about their environment, they feel good about learning,” said Johnna Brown, director of communications for the district.
Brown proposed the supply center for teachers after learning about a similar program in Clarksville, Tennessee, schools. Superintendent Chris Bentzel took her idea to the new education foundation board and asked them to sponsor it.
“This is what we were meant for,” said Angie Major, executive director of the education foundation. In addition to helping teachers with the cost of supplies, Major said she wants the Teacher Corner to be proof that the community supports their work in the schools.
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After the foundation agreed to sponsor the Teacher Corner, organizers immediately began asking local businesses and industry for donations. The Walmart Distribution Center provided several pallets of folders, pens and other supplies. Ascend Elements, Siemer Milling, Kentucky Farm Bureau and others responded with donations.
“Our community has shown up in a big way,” Fort said of the donations.
The supplies that teachers can choose include the basics, like paper, folders, pens and pencils, along with sleeping mats for the youngest students, candy for prizes, art supplies, air freshener, tissues, cleaning supplies, books, games, puzzles, office chairs, bean bags and calculators.
While every classroom in the district has basic furnishings, the supplies can vary from school to school, said Brown. In some cases, the teacher’s desk chair could be several years old and not as functional as a new chair. New office chairs were among the most popular items selected by the first group of door prize winners at the Teacher Corner.
The district has 656 teacher-certified employees, said Fort. Of those, there are 96 new teachers this year — and they got the first appointments to go through the Teacher Corner.
Culinary arts teacher Adam Barnes was the first teacher to arrive when the Teacher Corner opened Tuesday afternoon. Among the items he chose was a large anchor chart that he said he’ll use to display guides for respectful behavior.
To get the program started, every teacher receives about 20 points to “spend” at the Teacher Corner. A point is roughly equivalent to $1.
The Teacher Corner will be open for about two weeks initially and again at the start of the next semester in January. There may be special days when it is open at other times. Teachers who are recognized for “phenomenal” work throughout the year will occasionally receive gift cards with extra points they can spend during the school year, said Fort.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
