CHCCS teacher supply store eases cost burden of classroom supplies

On  Aug. 21 and 22, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation hosted a Teacher Supply Store event at Chapel Hill High School. The annual event began in 2007 and provides teachers with vouchers to shop for supplies. 

In recent years, it has become even more challenging for teachers to afford what they need for their classrooms, Madeline Blobe, executive director of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation said. 

While principals often have a budget for basic supplies, teachers still need to pay out of their own pockets for many classroom materials, Blobe said. 

“So we estimate that what teachers spend has gone up from on average $500 to now they're saying roughly $900 and that's a lot of money out of a teacher's salary,” she said. 

Marcus Gear, a third-year eighth grade social studies teacher at Smith Middle School, said school supplies prices have gone up since his first year teaching. 

The Teacher Supply Store items are provided through a grant from the Teachers First Fund and a partnership with the East Chapel Hill Rotary Club. In the past four years, nearly $100,000 worth of school supplies have been distributed to teachers free of charge, according to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation.

Michelle Gear, is an Exceptional Children teacher at Smith Middle School with 15 years of experience who attended the event with her brother, Marcus. CHCCS’s Exceptional Children program works to support students with disabilities, according to the district’s website. 

She said as a kindergarten teacher, she is responsible for purchasing basic necessities such as crayons and markers.

Though teachers try not to rely on parents because they understand families may be experiencing financial hardships, people don’t make the same consideration for teachers, she said. 

“I think that school districts should be allotted a certain amount for school supplies for the entire district,” Michelle Gear said. “And I think that the state should give more money to teachers, not necessarily in pay, but there should be a separate fund for school supplies.”

Maite Lamberri, aSpanish teacher at Chapel Hill High School with 23 years of teaching experience, said she pays about $300 per year for learning tool subscriptions like Quizlet. 

“We have to invest our own money more and more every year,” Lamberri said. 

On Aug. 21, the CHCCS Board of Education approved cuts to 24 full-time central office positions. According to CHCCS, the district has experienced a steady drop in student enrollment over several years, leading to reduced funding. Additionally, rising personnel costs are causing a budget shortfall. 

Allison Worthy, chair of the Teacher Supply Store event, said because of budget cuts, teachers are not provided supplies by their schools so they rely on the store and donations from parents.

The store, however, is a morale booster for teachers and provides them with the supplies that they need, Worthy said.

“We've been doing the store for 17 years, and I think this year, more than ever before, teachers really appreciate it more because of the budget cuts,” she said. 

Worthy also said the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation hopes to open a permanent supply store in the future. 

“If you don’t have the right tools, you can’t do the job well,” she said. “And so I think that when teachers are not equipped, and when their students don’t have all the supplies that they need to be successful, it does impact the education they receive.”

Blobe said all students should have the same access to education, including having the supplies they need to to study and learn, not just in the classroom but also for homework. 

“It really benefits not just the student, but our whole community,” Blobe said. 

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