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Under 1% of DISD Budget Earmarked for Classroom Supplies

Under 1% of DISD Budget Earmarked for Classroom Supplies
School office supplies on board. | Image by Poznyakov/Shutterstock

The education-focused nonprofit Kids in Need Foundation surprised two Dallas ISD teachers on Wednesday with $1,000 each with which to buy school supplies for their classrooms.

The lucky recipients were pre-K teacher Laurie McKenzie and 5th-grade math teacher Katherine Turck, both educators at Anne Frank Elementary School in North Dallas.

Dallas is one of six cities in the United States, including New York City and Washington D.C., where teachers were awarded donations from the group, which is supported by funds from the Fox Corporation.

“I was super excited. There are so many things I can use this for the help of my students,” said Turck, speaking with Fox 4.

“I want to use it wisely, and I know they’re going to be really excited when those boxes come,” McKenzie added.

“We learn by playing, so [I plan to buy] a lot of playthings, kitchen items, kitchen tables, things used in the classroom, dress-up things, and building blocks. That’s how we learn in Pre-K,” she said.

Texas teachers often pay more out-of-pocket for school and classroom supplies than their peers in any other state in the country, per San Antonio Express-News.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, Texas educators were predicted to spend $298 million of their own money on supplies, according to a report by My eLearning World.

An internal poll conducted by the Texas State Teachers Association showed that teachers spent, on average, $846 out of pocket on supplies in the 2021-2022 school year.

For its part, Dallas Independent School District (DISD) appeared to allocate just 0.6% of its colossal $2.2 billion 2021–2022 academic year operating budget to “Instructional Resources and Media Svcs.” This category listed on the district’s Dallas ISD Facts Sheet is the only one resembling a classroom supplies allowance.

Adding insult to injury, the average teacher salary at DISD was only $63,900 that school year. Meanwhile, the district’s new superintendent, Stephanie Elizalde, makes a base salary of $338,000 annually, with taxpayer-funded incentive bonuses in her contract.

“School Leadership” expenses, such as Elizalde’s salary, cost Dallas taxpayers about $125 million that school year.     

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11 Comments

  1. heavyjumbo

    Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent, while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent. Administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students. That is where the money is going

    Reply
  2. Linda Klinger

    I requested records of CRT/SEL training materials used by DISD to indoctrinate teachers. The district was very proud of this nonsense, and I read the materials with sadness and horror. I did not request the $$$ amount paid to the “consulting firms,” but districts across the nation have spent hundreds of thousands to Balkanize and groom our children.

    Reply
    • Bill Fox

      I find it likely that you can’t adequately explain CRT. Do you also think we should ban books that have been taught for decades?

      Reply
      • Linda Klinger

        I will overlook your assumptions about my knowledge of CRT.

        Reply
      • Linda Klinger

        As a parent, grandparent, educator, taxpayer, and citizen, I have investigated and studied CRT. It is my civic and family duty to expose falsehood.

        Reply
      • kathleen

        This comment section doesn’t have the space for me to adequately explain how I have seen personally the concepts of CRT destroying our schools and hurt my diverse students. Leftists love to say it is not taught in public schools but those Marxist ideas from “higher” education have trickled down in elementary schools with new sanitized names like anti-racist, diversity, equity, and inclusion or cultural competency. It promotes a false narrative of systemic racism by whites while being blatantly racist against whites. It sets up a victimhood mentality and fuels hate.
        As for book banning, It is not decades old books that parents are protesting to ban. I studied the working documents on the suggested revisions for Social Studies TEKS and it was “expert” leftists who were suggesting cutting standard historical documents and skills like critical thinking. They were pushing to replace them with new material like project 1619 that has been discredited by historical scholars. It was a hot debate all day long at the SBOE hearing in August on this.
        The books parents are seeking to ban are sexually explicit and very age inappropriate. There is no logical defense to support wasting tax dollars on these books. It is sad that the media and even the DOJ vilifies parents who protest these things polluting our schools.

        Reply
  3. Taxedout

    While you are comparing expenditures, check out % spent on direct instruction by DISD in comparison to higher performing ISDs. TEA PEIMS can be very useful.

    Reply
  4. Bill Fox

    DISD and most other inner-city districts don’t pay for classroom supplies. Way to crack the case! In other news, the sky is blue!

    Reply
    • kathleen

      Yes families are still expected to provide basic pencil and paper supplies, and many churches and charities help with those.
      However the district always have a limited budget for each classroom for other teaching supplies and make teachers jump through all sorts of hoops to purchase through their approved vendors which are usually over priced. So we teachers drop by the dollar store and use our own cash to get the little things that make a creative lesson and memories for the kids.

      Reply
  5. heavyjumbo

    Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number
    of K-12 public school students in the United States
    increased by 96 percent, while the number of full-time
    equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent.
    Administrators and other non-teaching
    staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than
    seven times the increase in students.

    Reply
  6. Mili

    How many children can attend a private school of learning for $125 million? I no longer have school age children but am paying for DISD to ride on the coat tails of the children and at the expense of worthy teachers .

    Reply

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