Teacher spending on school supplies is higher in high-poverty schools and increasing overall: Unreimbursed teacher spending on classroom supplies, 2011–2012 and 2015–2016 school years, all schools and by poverty level
| 2011–2012 | 2015–2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| All schools | $459 | $480 |
| Low-poverty | $441 | $434 |
| High-poverty | $481 | $523 |
Notes: Data are for teachers in public noncharter schools. The dollar values represent average spending across all K–12 public school teachers and include teachers who report zero unreimbursed spending for school supplies. Spending data are inflation-adjusted from 2011 dollars and 2015 dollars to 2018 dollars using the CPI-U-RS. A teacher is considered to be in a low-poverty school if less than 25% of the students in his or her classroom are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs; a teacher is considered to be in a high-poverty school if 50% or more of the students in his or her classroom are eligible for those programs.
Sources: 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and 2015–2016 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) microdata from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)