MICHIGAN

State cuts have teachers reaching into own pockets

Monday, June 13, 2005
By Judy Putnam
Press Lansing Bureau

As the school year ends, Kentwood teacher Becky Brown estimates she spent nearly $400 out of her pocket for supplies for her third-grade classroom at Endeavor Elementary.

"I've been a teacher for 27 years, and it's commonplace to just run out and pick up what you need for your class," Brown said.

A new survey backs that claim.

Michigan teachers on average spend $466 of their own funds for books, pencils, paper, art supplies, snacks and other items for their classrooms, according to a recent phone survey of 1,016 public school teachers by EPIC-MRA, a Lansing-based research firm.

The survey also found 67 percent of teachers statewide and 81 percent in the Grand Rapids area said they spent more of their own money and their districts reduced supplies compared to four years ago, when the state began struggling with budget shortfalls.

The survey is a regular monthly study done by EPIC-MRA on topical subjects, Vice President Ed Sarpolus said. It was not paid for by education groups.

Sarpolus said he picked the subject to advance a June 21 rally by the K-16 Coalition, which is bringing thousands of parents, teachers and administrators to Lansing to call for more funding. The group is backing a Senate bill that will give school districts an inflationary or 5 percent increase, whichever is less.

Sarpolus said with more than 100,000 public school teachers, the $466 out of pocket added up. "That's $47 million last year that the teachers contributed for the state of Michigan out of their own personal salaries. That's a pretty big number," he said.

In Kentwood, Brown said her district provided paper, pencils and books, but teachers bought other materials. She paid for glue sticks, materials for science projects, food for the classroom hamster and turtle, and hand sanitizers.

Kim Fox, a kindergarten teacher at North Godwin Elementary in Wyoming, said she spent about $1,000 in supplies per year. She buys books, charts, food for cooking, gifts and candy. She plans to buy grammar books for next year. "A book will cost you anywhere from $12, $20 or more. It adds up," Fox said. "As a teacher, you can't help but want to know what's out there, (like) new strategies for reading. That's part of my job."

Teachers receive a federal tax break for out-of-pocket purchases. They can deduct up to $250 for classroom supplies.

The survey also showed most Grand Rapids-area teachers said their class sizes increased, textbooks were less current, classroom aides were cut, and students took fewer field trips.

The findings upset Margaret Trimer-Hartley, spokeswoman for the Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. "Are we asking doctors to buy medicine for their patients? Are we asking lawyers and accountants and other professionals to provide their own paper and pencils and typewriters?" she said. "Professionals ought to be given the tools to do their jobs and not be expected to dip into their own pockets for such basics."

School funding has remained flat, with a per-student minimum of $6,700 for three years running, and mid-year cuts in 2003 and 2004. Meanwhile, rising health-care and other costs are causing schools to cut programs and raise fees.

But others have a different take on school spending.

A Grand Rapids group led by Dick DeVos, who is running for the GOP nomination for governor, does not advocate more money for education, instead saying a bigger portion of existing funds should be allocated to the classroom. "Clearly, more dollars need to be spent in the classroom so teachers don't have to spend their own money," said Rob Minard, spokesman for the Great Lakes Education Project, which advocates for more choice in education.

Michigan ranks poorly in the portion of education funding spent directly in the classroom, according to First Class Education, a Washington, D.C.-based group pushing to get more dollars in the classroom. With 57.4 cents on the dollar, the state ranks 48th, according to the group.

Spend More School Money on Students

Sunday, April 17, 2005
Cutting education overhead by $1 billion would pay for 20,000 more Michigan teachers

The Detroit News - Michigan could improve public school student performance without raising taxes by transferring existing money to classroom instruction.

The idea comes from a budding national movement to reduce school overhead and spend at least 65 cents of every education dollar in classrooms, where it will do the most good.

Michigan has plenty of room for improvement. The state spends 57.4 percent of its education budget in the classroom -- with the rest going for administration, food services and nonteaching personnel such as nurses and counselors, says First Class Education, a group pushing the wise use of tax dollars.

By upping the rate to 65 percent, $1 billion would be available to shift directly into classrooms, the group estimates. Translated, the $1 billion would pay the salaries of 20,000 more teachers, given the typical pay of $50,000 a year. There is, of course, a need for spending outside the classroom. But these costs should be cut to the bone to bankroll more instruction, which, after all, is the primary goal of public education.

In Arizona, lawmakers are already lining up to adopt such a plan, saying a 65-percent rule will solve Arizona's overall school funding problems. Other states have already hit the 65 percent mark. The First Class Education group developed the 65 percent formula after mining federal education data from around the country. Even if the proposed savings estimate for Michigan is off by as much as half, making another $500 million available for instruction is no small feat.

The breakthrough idea places a priority on students by putting a figure on limiting bureaucracy and adding teachers. Cutbacks need not be all that radical. Strategies include districts pooling resources with an eye toward, say, reducing the number of principals, assistant principals and assistant superintendents. Gov. Jennifer Granholm once put it this way: "School districts must reduce the bureaucracy, the layer of clay that blocks money from getting to the classroom."

The best thing to do with a blockage is to root it out. If local school boards are smart, they won't wait for a state mandate but will begin immediately to transfer money into the classroom. The prospects for raising more revenues are slim, given today's state budget realities. But that doesn't mean school districts can't increase classroom spending by reordering their priorities. The 65 percent target should be adopted by all school districts in the state.