Most teachers Jill Wagner knows spend significantly more on classroom expenditures than the $250 they may deduct from their taxes each year since they need to purchase school supplies, knick-knacks for use as student incentives, and even food and clothing for their young charges.
No matter what school system you’re in or what district income level, “we do spend a lot out of pocket because we care about the children,” said Wagner, an English teacher at Independence Local Schools.
Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Republican Anthony Brown of Maryland have joined together to submit legislation that would raise that tax credit to $1,000 and keep it indexed to inflation, according to a press release. Counselors, school administrators, and other aids who spend money on students’ educational expenditures would also be eligible for the tax deduction.
This plan will be attached to any tax legislation that comes out of either the House of Representatives or Senate, said Senator Brown, who leads the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. About 94% of public school teachers spend hundreds of dollars a year on classroom materials, and 10% spend more than $1,000, according to a report by the Department of Education recently.
That teachers shouldn’t have to delve into their modest incomes to accomplish their tasks, and that they should be able to deduct more of those expenditures from their taxes so that they can concentrate on teaching children, was what he said to reporters. State funding for education has decreased over the last several decades, resulting in instructors having to pay more out of their own wallets to guarantee that students have the resources they need to succeed academically.
