Charity begins at school

Teachers spend own money on poor kids

themercury.com.au

KIND teachers are spending thousands of dollars of their own money to buy classroom supplies for parents too poor to pay for books, pencils and school excursions.

A new Australian Education Union (AEU) survey of 12,000 state school teachers and principals has revealed they spent a remarkable $150m of their own money in the past year.

Each teacher spent an average of $874 on essential school

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supplies such as stationery, with primary teachers averaging $1067.

One in four teachers spent more than $1000 of their own money — and 12 per cent spent more than $2000.

Most of the money was spent on stationery, such as pencils and exercise books, for students too poor to buy them.

Some generous teachers even chipped in for school excursions for students who would otherwise miss out.

Teachers reached into their own pockets to buy classroom equipment, textbooks, play equipment or support for individual students. Seven per cent of teachers donated money for students to attend excursions with their classmates.

AEU president Correna Haythorpe said teachers were spending at least $150m a year on “essential supplies’’ in government-funded schools.

“Teachers spend their own money because they care about their students and don’t want to shift these additional costs onto parents.

“They don’t want students to potentially miss out when government funding doesn’t stretch as far as it should,’’ she said.

The AEU’s survey of 9733 teachers, 1787 support staff and 787 principals in May reveals that a quarter of government schools are fundraising to pay for basic school maintenance, and 8 per cent have to raise money to support students with a disability.

Ms Haythorpe said principals and teachers were spending valuable time fundraising, when they should be teaching students or planning lessons.

“Teachers should not be spending time organising sausage sizzles and other fundraising events,’’ she said.

“Teachers and principals should be given time to do their jobs properly and the resources to teach students.’’

About half of all government schools across Australia have to raise money for play and sports equipment, textbooks and basic library resources, the survey shows.

More than a third money for computers.

Schools from wealthier communities are more likely to run fundraising events than those in suburbs where parents are too poor to donate. raise