Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Perhaps if we pay them less the loons will cut back on trying to indoctrinate our kids.

Great thinking! NOT!

I keep hearing about this indoctrination, but no one can give me an example of what the heck they are talking about. that is pervasive nationwide. Are there some crazy things going on in NY, Boston, Chicago and California? Yes, but that crap doesn't fly everywhere and all you hear about are those few isolated cases of liberals gone nuts.

 

[Unkotare]

...

Teachers in public school are glorified baby sitters. .....

More ignorant bullshit.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Bull shit. Teachers have parents supply their kids for the year.

Exactly. And as a matter of fact we had a huge company layoff workers here and move to a new state. The company in question actually called several schools offering to give them all their office supplies free of charge...

Not a single one would pick them up. They ended up going to a few local churches.

Your company had loose leaf notebook paper and pencils? That's what students mostly need that their parents should be providing.

I am sure they would have had printer cartridges for our classroom printers and toner for our high-end copiers.

Very few businesses actually use what schools need.

Spiral note books, pens,pencils, three ring binders,course dividers,pocket folders. All things used by students. Plus ...copy paper,post it notes,paper clips,tape /dispensers,staples/staplers,pencil sharpeners and lots more...

All things both teachers and students can use.

So don't give me that lame argument. They were too lazy to pick it up because they know they can soak the patents for that stuff during the school year.

I never had a need for any of that. I still have a supply of staples from 2012. I have a binder that is 20 years old! Most of those things like that are reusable. I had 4 staplers that I acquired over the years.

My printer cartridges are over $100 a set. I would use at least 3 sets each year. Did your businesses have those?

What kind of business uses a spiral notebook and rulers?

Parents are responsible for almost all of those things, not teachers or schools.

I would have picked them up anyway. Your school districts are strange

If schools dont use them why are they always on the school supply lists?

In the habit of making parents waste money on things kids don't really need are you?

Teachers don't use them, but the students do! That is why they are on the supply list!

When was the last time you were in school? This is not a foreign concept but you write like you are clueless.

It is not the school's responsibility to provide spiral notebooks, binders, paper and pencils. If we did, your taxes would have to go up!

 

[Unkotare]

The reason I didn't become a teacher is because I couldn't figure out how to control 35 ungrateful brats, and I didn't even feel inclined to learn how......

Oh yeah, THAT's why......right......

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

So what?
I used to spend thousands a year on tools that made my job easier and or improved the products I produced.

Teachers spend the money and it does not make their job easier and it does not improve the product.

If it doesnt benefit the education of their students why do they do it?

If you boss tells you to do it, and you want to keep drawing a paycheck, what choice do you have?

 

[BlueGin]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

Bull shit. Teachers have parents supply their kids for the year.

Exactly. And as a matter of fact we had a huge company layoff workers here and move to a new state. The company in question actually called several schools offering to give them all their office supplies free of charge...

Not a single one would pick them up. They ended up going to a few local churches.

Your company had loose leaf notebook paper and pencils? That's what students mostly need that their parents should be providing.

I am sure they would have had printer cartridges for our classroom printers and toner for our high-end copiers.

Very few businesses actually use what schools need.

Spiral note books, pens,pencils, three ring binders,course dividers,pocket folders. All things used by students. Plus ...copy paper,post it notes,paper clips,tape /dispensers,staples/staplers,pencil sharpeners and lots more...

All things both teachers and students can use.

So don't give me that lame argument. They were too lazy to pick it up because they know they can soak the parents for that stuff during the school year.

I think parents should have to pay for all those things. I went to a private Catholic school as a kid, and our parents had to pay for all supplies, uniforms, and lunch because we didn't have a cafeteria; we ate our homemade lunch at our desks.

The teachers shouldn't have to pay for crap. Too many parents out there divorced from their child's education because they believe it's not their responsibility.

We were always given a list of supplies plus extras twice a year sometimes more. We were also instructed to purchase extra for the needy kids if we could. I seriously doubt the teachers paid for much out of pocket.

Hell...they even used to ask for poster board,copy paper,film and stuff for special projects.

I doubt that has changed in the last couple years.

 

[Blackrook]

So what?
I used to spend thousands a year on tools that made my job easier and or improved the products I produced.

Teachers spend the money and it does not make their job easier and it does not improve the product.

If it doesnt benefit the education of their students why do they do it?

If you boss tells you to do it, and you want to keep drawing a paycheck, what choice do you have?

You can stand up to your boss.

 

[BlueGin]

Exactly. And as a matter of fact we had a huge company layoff workers here and move to a new state. The company in question actually called several schools offering to give them all their office supplies free of charge...

Not a single one would pick them up. They ended up going to a few local churches.

Your company had loose leaf notebook paper and pencils? That's what students mostly need that their parents should be providing.

I am sure they would have had printer cartridges for our classroom printers and toner for our high-end copiers.

Very few businesses actually use what schools need.

Spiral note books, pens,pencils, three ring binders,course dividers,pocket folders. All things used by students. Plus ...copy paper,post it notes,paper clips,tape /dispensers,staples/staplers,pencil sharpeners and lots more...

All things both teachers and students can use.

So don't give me that lame argument. They were too lazy to pick it up because they know they can soak the patents for that stuff during the school year.

I never had a need for any of that. I still have a supply of staples from 2012. I have a binder that is 20 years old! Most of those things like that are reusable. I had 4 staplers that I acquired over the years.

My printer cartridges are over $100 a set. I would use at least 3 sets each year. Did your businesses have those?

What kind of business uses a spiral notebook and rulers?

Parents are responsible for almost all of those things, not teachers or schools.

I would have picked them up anyway. Your school districts are strange

If schools dont use them why are they always on the school supply lists?

In the habit of making parents waste money on things kids don't really need are you?

Teachers don't use them, but the students do! That is why they are on the supply list!

When was the last time you were in school? This is not a foreign concept but you write like you are clueless.

It is not the school's responsibility to provide spiral notebooks, binders, paper and pencils. If we did, your taxes would have to go up!

Well the schools have no problem asking parents to fork out those supplies for their kids plus the kids whose parents can't afford them.

Why you guys too lazy to pick them up for your low income students? Hmm?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

It’s well known that teachers — even those who earn meager salaries — dig deep into their own pockets for supplies to do their jobs, with one study estimating they spend an average of nearly $500 a year on everything from pencils to batteries.

For now, teachers can get a small tax break — deducting up to $250 from their taxes — for what they spend on supplies. But under the GOP tax reform bill, that deduction would go away for teachers and other categories of workers, including certain state and local officials and performing artists.

Maybe it's me, but I would submit a bill to the school board if I had out of pocket expenses for school supplies.

If teachers are too stupid to do this, they shouldn't get to write it off on their taxes.

It has nothing to do with being stupid.

Yes it does. I always submit my expenses to my employer. Why can't teachers do the same? Are they incapable of proper expense tracking?

Become a teacher and maybe you will find out that is it simply does not work that way.

I'll give you an example of how it does work.

Say I need rulers for my math class. I go see the bookkeeper and find an authorized supplier to order them from, at a cost of about $1.50 each. I fill out the purchase order and submit it my department head who approves it and send it back to the bookkeeper to forward to the principal. The principal sits on it a few days and finally signs the purchase order. The bookkeeper then sends off the order a few days later. By now, I no longer need the rulers. A week or so later, the rulers show up, but the company did not mark who they were supposed to go to, so the bookkeeper takes a couple of days to remember to look up to see who ordered them. She gives them to a student aide who gives them to the wrong teacher. Another day or two goes by and the teacher who had the rulers takes them back to the bookkeeper who then has to look up again who ordered them and finally sends a student aide with some sense, and I finally get my rulers about a month after they were ordered and two weeks past the time I needed them.

Or, I go to the local school supply store, pay $. 50 each out of my pocket and I take them to school the next day for the lesson. After the unit is over, I have 6 rulers left, of which 3 are broken and the rest are stolen.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The public schools are over funded as it is, so you're not going to convince me they're not already paying for school supplies.

How could we convince you? There are about 4 teachers in this thread and we are all agreeing! You obviously know better than us!

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Your company had loose leaf notebook paper and pencils? That's what students mostly need that their parents should be providing.

I am sure they would have had printer cartridges for our classroom printers and toner for our high-end copiers.

Very few businesses actually use what schools need.

Spiral note books, pens,pencils, three ring binders,course dividers,pocket folders. All things used by students. Plus ...copy paper,post it notes,paper clips,tape /dispensers,staples/staplers,pencil sharpeners and lots more...

All things both teachers and students can use.

So don't give me that lame argument. They were too lazy to pick it up because they know they can soak the patents for that stuff during the school year.

I never had a need for any of that. I still have a supply of staples from 2012. I have a binder that is 20 years old! Most of those things like that are reusable. I had 4 staplers that I acquired over the years.

My printer cartridges are over $100 a set. I would use at least 3 sets each year. Did your businesses have those?

What kind of business uses a spiral notebook and rulers?

Parents are responsible for almost all of those things, not teachers or schools.

I would have picked them up anyway. Your school districts are strange

If schools dont use them why are they always on the school supply lists?

In the habit of making parents waste money on things kids don't really need are you?

Teachers don't use them, but the students do! That is why they are on the supply list!

When was the last time you were in school? This is not a foreign concept but you write like you are clueless.

It is not the school's responsibility to provide spiral notebooks, binders, paper and pencils. If we did, your taxes would have to go up!

Well the schools have no problem asking parents to fork out those supplies for their kids plus the kids whose parents can't afford them.

Why you guys too lazy to pick them up for your low income students? Hmm?

Look at the red text in my quoted post above. Your answer is there.

 

[Mr.Blonde]

You can get rid of the Education Department when you make sure that states actually educate their kids instead of warehousing them for 12 years and then turning idiots out onto the streets.

1) Education is nowhere in the Constitution

2) The public schools are currently "warehousing them for 12 years and then turning idiots out onto the streets". Hell if it wasn't for my parents teaching me things that would have been me. Literally the only thing of value I learned in 12 years was basic reading, writing, and math.

Privatize schools? You want Islamic Madrassas getting tax dollars?

If that is what the parents want.

Florida had vouchers when I taught there. Not a single private high school would accept them because they were about half the cost of tuition. The schools would go bankrupt if they took them over paying students. The private schools never materialized like everyone claimed they would. Charter schools had about a 50% rate for bankruptcy. Guess what happens when those schools go belly-up? The kids get put back in public schools with no funding.

There would be no public schools in the plan I explained. So the vouchers would be higher than what was given in Florida.

Some schools would charge more than the vouchers some would charge the exact amount. There would be a school for every price.

 

[theHawk]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

It’s well known that teachers — even those who earn meager salaries — dig deep into their own pockets for supplies to do their jobs, with one study estimating they spend an average of nearly $500 a year on everything from pencils to batteries.

For now, teachers can get a small tax break — deducting up to $250 from their taxes — for what they spend on supplies. But under the GOP tax reform bill, that deduction would go away for teachers and other categories of workers, including certain state and local officials and performing artists.

Then why don’t you raise taxes at the local level to pay for it?

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

So what?
I used to spend thousands a year on tools that made my job easier and or improved the products I produced.

Teachers spend the money and it does not make their job easier and it does not improve the product.

If it doesnt benefit the education of their students why do they do it?

If you boss tells you to do it, and you want to keep drawing a paycheck, what choice do you have?

So wait a minute...are you saying they force them to do it?

 

[Blackrook]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

It’s well known that teachers — even those who earn meager salaries — dig deep into their own pockets for supplies to do their jobs, with one study estimating they spend an average of nearly $500 a year on everything from pencils to batteries.

For now, teachers can get a small tax break — deducting up to $250 from their taxes — for what they spend on supplies. But under the GOP tax reform bill, that deduction would go away for teachers and other categories of workers, including certain state and local officials and performing artists.

Maybe it's me, but I would submit a bill to the school board if I had out of pocket expenses for school supplies.

If teachers are too stupid to do this, they shouldn't get to write it off on their taxes.

It has nothing to do with being stupid.

Yes it does. I always submit my expenses to my employer. Why can't teachers do the same? Are they incapable of proper expense tracking?

Become a teacher and maybe you will find out that is it simply does not work that way.

I'll give you an example of how it does work.

Say I need rulers for my math class. I go see the bookkeeper and find an authorized supplier to order them from, at a cost of about $1.50 each. I fill out the purchase order and submit it my department head who approves it and send it back to the bookkeeper to forward to the principal. The principal sits on it a few days and finally signs the purchase order. The bookkeeper then sends off the order a few days later. By now, I no longer need the rulers. A week or so later, the rulers show up, but the company did not mark who they were supposed to go to, so the bookkeeper takes a couple of days to remember to look up to see who ordered them. She gives them to a student aide who gives them to the wrong teacher. Another day or two goes by and the teacher who had the rulers takes them back to the bookkeeper who then has to look up again who ordered them and finally sends a student aide with some sense, and I finally get my rulers about a month after they were ordered and two weeks past the time I needed them.

Or, I go to the local school supply store, pay $. 50 each out of my pocket and I take them to school the next day for the lesson. After the unit is over, I have 6 rulers left, of which 3 are broken and the rest are stolen.

This makes a good argument for abolishing public schools, and allowing parents to have vouchers to send their children to the private school of their choice.

Why do teachers oppose this obviously good idea?

 

[WinterBorn]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

It’s well known that teachers — even those who earn meager salaries — dig deep into their own pockets for supplies to do their jobs, with one study estimating they spend an average of nearly $500 a year on everything from pencils to batteries.

For now, teachers can get a small tax break — deducting up to $250 from their taxes — for what they spend on supplies. But under the GOP tax reform bill, that deduction would go away for teachers and other categories of workers, including certain state and local officials and performing artists.

Well, the remedy there is to stop buying stuff out of their own funds. If the district won't pay for it, then the kiddies don't get it.

I never spent a dime of my own money on my job while working for others. How ludicrous.

And eventually things MIGHT change. But what about the kids that go through during that time?

Giving teachers a tax deduction for things they spend money on for their students is not going to break the bank. It is a modest amount, compared to what many spend.

But, as the OP stated, it shows a callous disregard for the common folk.

 

[WinterBorn]

So what?
I used to spend thousands a year on tools that made my job easier and or improved the products I produced.

Teachers spend the money and it does not make their job easier and it does not improve the product.

If it doesnt benefit the education of their students why do they do it?

If you boss tells you to do it, and you want to keep drawing a paycheck, what choice do you have?

So wait a minute...are you saying they force them to do it?

They do it because the kids need it. I think a $250 deduction is a small price to pay, especially considering the tax breaks given to people who make far more money.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

A real man of the people.

Teachers spend nearly $500 a year on supplies. Under the GOP tax bill, they will no longer get a tax deduction.

It’s well known that teachers — even those who earn meager salaries — dig deep into their own pockets for supplies to do their jobs, with one study estimating they spend an average of nearly $500 a year on everything from pencils to batteries.

For now, teachers can get a small tax break — deducting up to $250 from their taxes — for what they spend on supplies. But under the GOP tax reform bill, that deduction would go away for teachers and other categories of workers, including certain state and local officials and performing artists.

Well, the remedy there is to stop buying stuff out of their own funds. If the district won't pay for it, then the kiddies don't get it.

I never spent a dime of my own money on my job while working for others. How ludicrous.

You don't buy the materials and your evaluation will show you are lacking in your teaching skills and you get not renewed.

Then you won't have a job.

Teachers have tenure so no, I don't buy it.

Teacher's tenure has fallen on hard times.

Let me tell how tenure works now. I worked in a school district for 4 years. I had outstanding evaluations all 4 years. At the end of my 4th year, I was given my outstanding evaluation by the assistant principal who observed me throughout the year. I was then told the principal wanted to see me also. He handed me a letter saying my contract would not be renewed. According to my contract, I cannot be renewed for any reason. In this case, no reason was stated, but had I been renewed, I would attain tenure status the first day of the next school year. They did not to pay my salary with 16 years experience was the real reason. My replacement was a college grad with no experience, paid half my salary.

I went to another district. I received an outstanding evaluation at the end of school, and the next week was handed another letter of non-renewal. They wanted to go out and hire a recent graduate from college at half my salary, and that is exactly what they did.

 

[theHawk]

Perhaps if we pay them less the loons will cut back on trying to indoctrinate our kids.

Great thinking! NOT!

I keep hearing about this indoctrination, but no one can give me an example of what the heck they are talking about. that is pervasive nationwide. Are there some crazy things going on in NY, Boston, Chicago and California? Yes, but that crap doesn't fly everywhere and all you hear about are those few isolated cases of liberals gone nuts.

I think he’s referring to the anti-Americanism Agenda being pushed in schools. That all of American history is nothing but racism and slavery. Many teachers these days are batshit crazy liberals that feel the need to rant and indoctrinate their students.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I don't buy my own legal pads and pens when I'm working for a law firm, and teachers should do the same.

Good! Go to your school board and get them to do exactly that!