K-12 teachers lose $895/year buying their own classroom supplies because school budgets cover only $200

K-12 teachers in the United States spend an average of $895 out of pocket per year on classroom supplies (up 49% since 2015), while the median school-provided supply budget is just $200. 97% of teachers report their school budget is insufficient to cover basic needs like notebooks, markers, and printer paper. Why it matters: teachers subsidize public education from their own paychecks, so their already-low salaries effectively shrink by hundreds of dollars per year, so 20% of teachers now work a second job (a 25% jump since 2023) partly to cover classroom costs, so teacher financial stress increases burnout and accelerates attrition from the profession, so schools in low-income districts that need the most experienced teachers lose them to wealthier districts or other careers entirely. The structural root cause is that per-pupil funding formulas in most states have not kept pace with inflation (school supplies rose 7.3% in 2025, nearly triple the overall inflation rate), and districts allocate the vast majority of their budgets to salaries and facilities, leaving classroom materials as an unfunded mandate that teachers silently absorb rather than letting students go without.