Ungrateful

I know that I have not posted a blog in awhile. I have been thinking in my mind what to write about. Today a topic came to me and I felt the need to share it.

As I often do I share important things on Facebook. Lots of my information is about school so that parent are aware of that is going on. They appreciate it very much since sometimes they would not get the word otherwise.

Today I posted the school supply list for Preschool at my school. A person attacked me about the list. I responded to them very kindly. I was very upset about what this person had to say. They were very accusatory about things. I am sorry. I am just sharing with others the list of things that we came up with as what is needed for Preschool. You don't have to like it. In fact, I told the person that it was their right to send or not send with a child what was on the list. I also made sure to let them know that what was on the list was things that would be used in the preschool classrooms each day by students and that we go through lots and lots of these items during the year.

I am so sorry that this person feels the need to not want to help out the preschool classrooms. I don't think that they fully understand that most of what the children at school use comes out of the pockets of teachers and staff. The school does not give us the money to aditquitly supply our rooms. A lot of our yearly salary goes back into supplying our rooms with the items needed to teach the children in our classroom.

It is so wonderful when people will help out by donating items to the school for classrooms. It helps us out greatly. Less money out of our pockets. Then you have those that refuse to donate. They feel entitled. I saw this before.

When I worked in Kindergarten we had some parents that refused to give donations to the classroom. They said that because their child got free lunches that the school was expected to supply their child with all the things they would need for the year. It made me mad.

When I was in school parents were expected to provide all the items that a child needed for school. There was no donations of supplies for the students. Though my Mom didn't make much as a teacher, but she made sure my sister and I had everything we needed.

After my Mom retired she helped my classroom a lot by donating supplies to our room. She knew that if she did not that my teacher and I would have to by supplies out of pocket. A lot of times teachers can't afford the things they need.

I have been told that the tax dollars are what goes for school supplies. In West Virginia  Public education accounts for $2 billion, or 45 percent, of the state’s base budget. Approximately $1.8 billion goes to West Virginia’s 55 school boards to fund K-12 education (State Aid to Schools) through the state’s school aid formula. West Virginia’s state share of K-12 education is one of the highest in the nation, accounting for 56 percent of total public education spending.

280,000 children are enrolled in the K-12 public school system, while another 88,000 are enrolled in public higher education institutions in West Virginia.  For example, 56 percent of K-12 education funding in West Virginia comes from state funds, whereas 29 percent is derived from local government (e.g., property taxes).

So that says to me that education is underfunded by not only the state, but also the county. That means that when we in the school system ask for help with supplies for school that we don't want to hear that the tax dollars have it covered.  We don't want to hear that you payed your taxes so that should cover the school supplies that you are asked to provide.

Don't you realized that 29% of taxes in the county and 45% of taxes in the state is not a lot of money for teachers? You think about it. In our county there is 6 schools. If you divide 29 percent by 6 that means that each school gets about 4.8% of the tax money to use. On the other hand you look at the states part in this. 45% divided by 55 means each county would get .8% of the money. That is not a lot at all if you think about it.

That being said what it comes down to is that parents and community members need to support their schools. They need to donate supplies so that teachers do not have to buy them out of pocket. It would be nice if people would take and adopt a classroom. That would mean that they would work with a teacher in the school to help supply their classroom with whatever they need for the year. They could even adopt a grade level to help supply for the year.

So I beg of you to please help our schools out. Please support our teachers and staff. If you see a school supplies list give to that class, grade, or school. We really appreciate all the support that we can get.

Don't be ungrateful. It gets on our nerves. I am passionate about helping schools. I will admit that I will tell someone off that makes me mad about not helping with supplies for their child's classroom. I will go to bat for teachers since I grew up with a teacher. My Mom taught school 40 years and she taught me respect for teachers.

Give to schools. Don't be so ungrateful!