HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — It’s estimated that on average, teachers in Florida spend about $1,000 of their own money on school supplies.
“Teachers will often dip into their own pockets to cover basic school supplies to make sure every student in their class has what it means to be successful,” said Anna Corman, President & CEO of Hillsborough Education Foundation.
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It’s getting more difficult for teachers to afford school supplies with recent inflation.
“Florida ranks 50th in the nation for average teacher pay. So for a teacher who is already not making what they should, the cost of things increasing, anything from gas to groceries and certainly school supplies that can be a really big financial burden on a teacher,” said Corman.
Hillsborough Education Foundation tries to offset that burden with its Teaching Tools Resource Center, where Hillsborough teachers can get school supplies for free.
“We’ve been so busy,” said Corman.
The Resource Center has only been open to teachers since Mid July.
“We’ve served hundreds of teachers already,” said Corman.
Supplies have been flying off the shelves.
“We’ve probably gotten out about $75,000 worth of supplies just in a few short weeks. Which I think just really speaks to the need and the demand for school supplies,” said Corman.
The foundation has had a higher demand than usual.
“We’ve had a higher demand for our services. So last year we gave out nearly $3.5 million worth of school supplies and resources,” said Corman.
HEF is dedicated to helping teachers and students as much as they can, especially as demand grows.
“The Teaching Tools Resource Center really helps bridge that gap for students who don’t have those tools and maybe they come from an economically disadvantaged background or family and we just want to make sure that every student has what they need to succeed,” said Corman.
She encourages everyone to donate school supplies to HEF, even if you don’t have kids in school, to help support students and teachers.
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