| We need to insure that the children have adequate | | | | State tax allowance that helped teachers with this |
| tools to meet their classroom needs are justified. This | | | | effort. But recently both the State and Federal tax |
| is a critical need. | | | | breaks have been abandoned. Parent groups and |
| Teachers in California (and elsewhere) have a plight | | | | others do donate supplies (I did), but there is still a |
| now that is seriously affecting the empowerment of | | | | significant shortfall. And with the explosion of class |
| children. In California schools, there is not enough | | | | sizes, additional faculty means new (and younger) |
| budget money to adequately provide classroom | | | | teachers... hardly able to add the burden of providing |
| supplies in enough quality and quantity to insure | | | | supplies to their own personal budgets. |
| excellent education. And for decades, many teachers | | | | Teachers spend large sums on school supplies that, in |
| have provided such supplies at their own expense. In | | | | times past, were provided by the School Districts. The |
| some cases, paper, pencils, ink cartridges and yes, | | | | administrators are not to blame... budget crunches have |
| even books, have been provided at the expense of | | | | serious impacted their ability to maintain current |
| the teacher! | | | | instructional levels. There are a few organizations |
| In past years, there has been both a Federal and a | | | | around the country that are helping, but not enough. |