HUNTSVILLE, AL — She doesn’t like doing it, but Huntsville High Principal Leslie Esneault doesn’t see that she has much choice.
Because of cuts in state funding for public schools, she’s having to charge her teachers a penny for every copy they make over their 500-a-month allotment.
Huntsville High School math teacher Nicole McKnelly makes copies of a math test as assistant principal and math teacher Mark Mincher stands behind her. At Huntsville High, the principal has to charge teachers one cent per copy over the 500-copy monthly allotment.
“We just don’t have the money to pay for more than that,” Esneault said. “Morale among teachers is bad, but they’re not directing it at me. They know I don’t want to charge them, but I don’t know where else I’ll get the money.”
Last year, teachers across Alabama got $400 from the state for classroom supplies. That money was cut to zero this year, and teachers are dipping into their own pockets to pay for the essentials they need to do their jobs.
“If a teacher needs a pencil, he or she is buying it,” she said.
The Huntsville High principal is asking parents to consider donating money to the school’s teacher supply funds to help them not have to pay quite as much.
“Some parents might not feel like $10 – which most people can afford – is enough, but I promise, every little bit helps,” she said. “One dollar equals 100 copies.
“If everyone who has a child in school would donate to their schools, it would be significant.”
Herbert Wheeler, finance director for Huntsville City Schools, acknowledged that while the community is supportive of education, “we could certainly use more.” He said all central office administrators and principals are looking to cut spending in ways that don’t affect instruction.
“We’re really looking at energy costs,” he said. “We’re even asking our teachers to take home their space heaters, coffee pots and refrigerators to help us lower our utility bills.
“We’re doing everything we can, but we still have some big gaps to fill.”
If parents do opt to donate to copies and supply funds, Esneault recommends they write checks rather than send cash, “so that everyone can know it’s going to the right place.”
Hardest hit, she said, are new teachers who don’t have classroom supplies from years past.
“Chances are, you’ve got student loans and not much of a bank account,” she said. “And on top of that, you have to buy your own supplies.
“Teachers are asked to do their jobs, but with no resources, and with higher standards every year. What other profession does that? And you know what? They’ll do it, and they’ll do it beautifully, but at what cost?”
Students in a senior economics class at Bob Jones High School in Madison found a way to help their teachers by simply informing their fellow students about the funding crisis and asking for their coins.
Economics teacher Brett Chapman said the class discussed a number of projects they could get their school involved in, and one group decided on the subject of proration. He said they talked with state Department of Education officials, Madison City Superintendent Dee Fowler and teachers from the district. They filmed a three-minute video, showed it to their classmates, and put it on YouTube.
Chapman said that during the weeklong fundraiser, $1,860 was raised, which will be used to purchase Scantron sheets, markers and other supplies.
“This was entirely student-driven,” Chapman said. “I just facilitated. And the kids brought in their pennies, nickels, dimes. It all counts.”
Madison County Superintendent Terry Davis said his district is having to pull from its reserves to make ends meet, “but some day the piggy bank will run out.”
“It’s the nature of the beast for teachers to use their own money to fund their classrooms,” he said. “It happens even when we’re not on proration.
“Some school systems in the state have arranged a line of credit to help them through. We haven’t had to do that yet, so we’re grateful.”
From See World, post Funding cuts cause schools to charge teachers per photocopy, principals asking parents to pitch in
