Teacher Spending Accounts: Supporting All Teachers

Key Points

• Teachers are the most important in-school factor for student success, yet we give teachers almost no say in education funding decisions.
• Teacher spending accounts (TSAs) are state-funded accounts for K–12 teachers that are designed to be used for classroom supplies and educational expenses such as instructional materials, technology, teacher coaching, and professional development.
• TSAs prioritize individual teacher autonomy and expertise by recognizing that teachers are best positioned to tailor this “last mile” of education spending for the greatest impact.
• TSAs are one step toward envisioning a school funding paradigm that supports all teachers, regardless of school type.

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Introduction

Browsing social media during back-to-school time, one frequently encounters pleas from teachers to help purchase classroom supplies through #clearthelist¹ campaigns or to support their class’ DonorsChoose² projects. At a time of historically high levels of education spending, why do teachers require additional assistance to meet basic classroom needs? How is it that a fifth-grade teacher with 20 students—representing about $13,500 each in per-pupil funding³—has so little control over how the more than a quarter million dollars those students represent enters the classroom?

Education funding policies should put students’ and teachers’ needs first. An increasing number of students now have access to education savings accounts (ESAs), an increasingly popular policy reform that puts education funds directly in families’ hands to use at the school or education provider of their choice. I argue that teachers deserve similar support and flexibility through teacher spending accounts (TSAs).

Funded with a base amount of $1,000, these accounts could be additionally weighted based on classroom or teacher need (e.g., students in poverty, special education, or first-year teachers). These accounts would be created at the state level as a general benefit available to every qualifying teacher in the state—regardless of whether they teach in a traditional public, charter, or private school.⁴ Through TSAs, policymakers can directly support teachers’ material needs and create a new education funding mechanism that affirms their central importance in schools.

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Notes

1. Twitter, “#clearthelist,” https://twitter.com/hashtag/clearthelist?src=hashtag_click.
2. DonorsChoose, website, https://www.donorschoose.org.
3. US Census Bureau, “Per Pupil Spending Continues to Increase in 2020,” May 18, 2022, press release, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/per-pupil-spending.html.
4. For states with private school choice programs, states could limit eligibility only to teachers in participating schools.