Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) recently outlined his goal to pass legislation allowing teachers to deduct expenses toward school supplies from their taxable income. Particularly with the historically high inflation that has plagued Americans over the past few years, the subject of compensating the nation’s teachers has increasingly been a discussion among lawmakers.
“Right now, a single teacher can deduct up to — depending upon the amount spent — $300 for classroom supplies that she or he buys personally and is not reimbursed for,” according to Sen. Kennedy. “My bill would double that to $600.” He added, “Unfortunately, many of our teachers do have to go out of pocket to buy classroom supplies,” Kennedy says, “so the least we can do is let them deduct it from their income tax.
The Louisiana Republican emphasized that teachers should not have to use their own money to fund classroom expenditures. “I would like to live in a world where teachers don’t have to come out of pocket to buy classroom supplies or anything,” Kennedy says. “And if it was up to me, I would give then an unlimited deduction.” The senator continued, “I introduced it this Congress, even though this Congress ends in a few weeks, just to get a head start. I’ll reintroduce it in the new Congress.”
Kennedy’s initiative has sparked commentary on social media, with people offering their opinions and insights on the issue. “Better yet, the school districts should supply ALL the supplies. Not parents, not teachers…school districts. If administrators stop receiving six-figure incomes and pensions for doing nothing, there would be enough tax dollars for necessary things,” one person said.
Another person suggested, much like the federal government, there is an administrative bloat in the education system that is devouring tax dollars that should go to teachers. “Too much taxpayer money is going to school administrators not teachers. If they fired 20% of the administrators they would have millions for supplies,” they wrote.
Citing data, the post continued, “The number of school administrators in the United States has increased by 87.6% since 2000. This growth is much larger than the increase in the number of students (7.6%) and teachers (8.7%) during the same period. In 2023, there were approximately 993,000 school administrators in the US, which is a 23.5% increase from 10 years prior.”
“That is, in fact, the least you can do, which is what you do best. The real solution is to adequately fund schools so that teachers aren’t using their own money to buy supplies for students from their paychecks that are too small,” one person commented.
Another person said, “Parents are required to buy supplies for the classroom, so 30 students, 30 parents, where do the supplies go? Plus within our property taxes there is a ton of money going to schools, plus they get money from casinos etc., There needs to be an audit. If teachers are suffering after all we pay, maybe multiple principals and superintendents are not needed and / or paid too much. 🤔.”
Listen to Kennedy outlining his intentions for the bill below:
Featured image credit: By C-SPAN – http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/311354-7, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130734292
"*" indicates required fields