Teachers often spend their own money on school supplies

Teachers in the United States spend an average of $475 of their own money on classroom supplies and materials each year, according to a study prepared by Quality Education Data Inc. for the last school year. The biggest portion of that spending comes to prepare for the first day of class—which is today at Academy of Dover, Thomas Edison and Marion T. Academy charter schools, and later this week for about half of Delaware’s public–school students. When school districts go through tough financial times, teachers sometimes have to spend a little more. But veteran educators look for summer sales to spruce up their classrooms and motivate children, and hoarding supplies during good years to make things last during bad ones. Read about the practice at delawareonline.com.