By Kara Yorio, Staff Writers. The Record.
The line at Bosland’s Learning Plus stretched down the aisle and around the corner, more than 30 teachers deep. They pushed carts and balanced items in their arms, stocking up for the classrooms and students and another year where school budgets are supplemented by teachers’ personal bank accounts.
“We spend a lot of our own money,” said Diane Oberlin, who teaches kindergarten in Montville and was on her fifth or sixth trip to the Saddle Brook store for this year. “I’m sure everyone here will tell you that.”
Schools do provide varying degrees of materials, but more always seems to be needed.
“It’s not enough to have what you want in your classroom,” said Oberlin, holding her few final items, including a Stop and Go sign for the bathroom.
In the weeks leading up to the start of school, the parking lots at Bosland’s and Lakeshore Learning in Hackensack were overflowing. Teachers there ranged from recent college graduates preparing for their first school year to 20- and 30-year veterans in the profession, who have been spending their own money for decades.
Teachers spent $1.6 billion of their own money on classroom supplies and gear for the 2012-13 school year, according to a study by the National School Supply and Equipment Association. The study found that 99.5 percent of all public school teachers spent some amount of money out-of-pocket. The national average of those purchases was $485. Ten percent spent $1,000 or more, which was double the percentage spending that kind of money in previous NSSEA studies.
President Obama mentioned these teachers in his speech during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. It’s a new time, he said, but people now still dare to dream of a better place. He singled out those who he said are continuing the movement with “a hunger of purpose.”
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