As the summer winds down, swimming days near an end, camps wrap up, and students begin to move into their dorms or on campus apartments at their respective universities, we begin to see the tax-free weekends for back-to-school sales. These are typically designed to allow for large purchase items to be bought at a discount, free of sales taxes, to help students, primarily going to or returning to college. Teachers also take advantage of these weekends to grab at classroom items at a discount. North Carolina’s tax-free weekend was repealed in 2014[1]. In lieu of this, we see a lot of school bus drives and back pack drives, events that will assist teachers and parents alike to purchase needed items.
Being notoriously underpaid, teachers are left to assist with providing additional school supplies for their students. This eats into their already marginalized salaries, and often times, teachers are already working multiple jobs to take care of their own expenses. Not to mention, there have, in recent years, been an exodus from the education system. Many teachers have left the school systems altogether to begin second careers, there have been strikes across school districts, with teachers demanding higher pay, and all of this ultimately increases the student-teacher ratio. With a higher ratio, teachers are left to provide for even more students. There has been some increase in average teacher starting salaries. This, of course, incentivizes going into the education field. For those who complete their Teaching Fellows programs, this is a sigh of relief.
According to The Facts on Teacher Pay in North Carolina, the starting salary for a NC teacher for the 2019-2020 academic year was $37,049.[2] There has been some increase of starting salaries year-over-year. Governor Roy Cooper signed a bill for the 2024-2025 academic year that will increase salaries again.
“New teachers would have a starting salary this year of $41,000. Last year, it was $39,000. Step increases are built into teacher pay as they become more experienced, topping out at 25 years. There is a salary plateau with no increases for 15 through 24 years of experience, which would be $5,306 a month.”[3]
Despite the increase and the raises throughout their careers, the fact remains that teachers will still need assistance with providing for their students and classroom supplies. This is a traditional top-of-the-school-year request, with the ability to continue supporting teachers throughout the school year. Donation efforts are consistent for classroom supplies, often times with teachers requesting a classroom parent to assist them in their efforts.
Ways to donate:
- Fill That Bus: Supporting Durham Teachers for Crayons2Calculators located at 808 Bacon Street, Durham, NC. Supplies can be dropped off Mondays through Thursdays 11am – 3pm through August 31st (https://donorbox.org/fill-that-bus-2023)
- Tools4Schools in Wake County (https://www.wakeed.org/tools4schools/)
- School Supplies Drive for Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation: (https://www.publicschoolfoundation.org/school-supplies-drive)
Parents with more than one child will especially benefit from the various opportunities throughout the Triangle area to pickup school supplies that will financially relieve them from the ever-growing expense of going back to school. Whether the kids are wearing uniforms or they have every day clothing to wear, the expense of sending even ONE child back to school eats into a monthly budget. This becomes particularly problematic when you consider the fact that approximately 35% of school-aged children are from a one parent households.[4] So, our communities step up, and provide plenty of resources to assist. Some of the back-to-school events going on through August 24th are available here: https://triangleonthecheap.com/back-to-school/.[5]
Not all teachers are able to get the assistance of a classroom parent. It is vitally important that they provide the proper supplies for their students to allow them to perform to the best of their abilities. As an aside…funding for schools depends on how well the students perform on standardized tests. Without the proper materials to teach, this becomes a challenge, and children are less motivated and under-perform. They figure: “What’s the point?”
When parents are without the finances to be able to provide for clothing, shoes, and supplies, what do you think will win out of these? Children grow. Their feet grow. The clothes and shoes will win. Whether it is a one-parent household or a two-parent household, the objective is the same. However, when you consider how a one-parent household became a one parent household, you cannot ignore the fact that some of this has been the result of there being a breakup due to intimate partner violence in the home. Children who have already subjected to these dynamics will resultingly feel neglected and/or abandoned to some degree. To leave them without proper school supplies only doubles down on these feelings of despair, whether they are conscious or subconscious feelings. All of these things work collectively to make them wonder, yet again: “What’s the point?”
So, as we enter into the school year for 2024-2025, let’s continue to remember and contribute how we can to our teachers’ classrooms as well as to community school supply drives. Keep in mind, these initiatives can continue throughout the school year. The next phase of donations for kids is usually around Christmastime. But for now…let’s all give something, even if it’s just time.