Published in Reading Today, June/July, 2005

“Teachers dip into their own pockets for school

supplies” (April/May) should have been a lead story on

page one of Reading Today, as well as in every

newspaper in the country. The NEA finding that the

teachers polled spent an average of nearly $1200 out

of their own pockets yearly in non-reimbursed school

expenses confirms that schools are under-funded, and

also demonstrates the dedication of members of the

teaching profession.

Of special interest to IRA members is how much

teachers spend on books. The NEA reported that

teachers spent an average of about $250 of the total

$1200 on “books and videos” for their students. This

is quite close to what others have found. In a recent

article published in Reading Horizons, Christy Lao of

San Francisco State University reported that the New

York City teachers she interviewed said they spent an

average of $378 per year of their own money on

classroom library books for their students.

If this data is typical, teachers are spending more on

books than school libraries do.

According to a recent survey published in the School

Library Journal by Miller and Shontz, school libraries

now spend about $9 per year per student on books.

There are about 50 million public school students in

the US. From this we can estimate that about 400

million dollars is spent on books in school libraries,

assuming 90% of all students in the US have access to

a school library.

If the average teacher spends $250 on books for

students, this amounts to ¾ billion dollars (3 million

teachers nation-wide). If Lao;s figure of $378 is

typical, they spend about a billion dollars, more than

double the amount spent for books in school libraries.

If teachers’ practices reflect the need, this figure

suggests that we should spend at least double the

amount we are now spending on books.

Teachers face a serious moral dilemma. If they don’t

spend their own money on books, equipment, and even

toilet paper, the students suffer, especially students

from low-income families who often attend seriously

under-funded schools and have little access to books

outside of school. If teachers do spend their own

money, there is no pressure on the system to supply

these essentials. The only solution is to create

pressure, by doing studies such as the NEA and Lao

did, and by publicizing the results.

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California