A high school English teacher in Queens builds a library of graphic novels for his struggling readers. A pre-K teacher in the East Village helps her students care for their own caterpillars as they transform into butterflies. And a 3rd-grade teacher in an impoverished section of the Bronx makes sure every student goes home with a notebook and pencil — because, she says, “It’s a little thing for us to give them those supplies, but for them it’s like the biggest thing in the world.”
In classrooms across the city, teachers and students are accomplishing amazing things every day. But they need the supplies — and the funding — to make it happen.
Teachers know best what materials they need for their classrooms and their students. That’s why, more than 25 years ago, the UFT initiated the Teacher’s Choice program. Traditionally funded by the City Council, Teacher’s Choice gives educators the freedom to purchase their own supplies for use in schools.
Because of the recession, Teacher’s Choice was eliminated during the 2011–12 school year. Although funding was restored the following school year, the amount since then has remained a fraction of what it used to be even as our city’s economy has recovered.
Our city now has the most state education aid it has received in eight years. Yet our teachers continue to spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets to give their students a high-quality education.
Our teachers and our students deserve better. It’s time for the City Council to restore Teacher’s Choice funding.
