Gov. Kemp announces $125 supplement for teachers to buy supplies

July 29th, 2022

Governor Brian Kemp announced Friday that Georgia teachers will be given an additional $125 to spend on classroom supplies for the upcoming 2022- 2023 school year. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday that the state will give K-12 public school teachers an extra $125 this year to spend on school supplies. According to federal data, 94 percent of educators spend their own money on classroom materials. The average amount is $478.

“I know the expenses you face are heavy, especially given the 40-year high inflation we’re going through, so I hope that this small contribution will help defray the cost and aid in efforts to close the learning gap caused by the pandemic,” Kemp told teachers when he made the announcement at Ola High School in McDonough.

Kemp said teachers could use the money to buy age-appropriate educational materials that support the learning, growth or development of students.

Ola Spanish teacher Dorcas Toledo-Acosta already knows what she wants to buy for her students.

“I have my eye on these great manipulatives in the classroom with little questions on these boxes,” she said. “So, kind impromptu questions in Spanish, which gets them ready for real-world impromptu questions.”

Toledo-Acosta teaches honors and Advanced Placement students. She was Ola’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

“I’m all about trying to use the language in a real-world scenario,” she said. “For example, we have a travel unit, and [the students] have to pretend to be airport workers and employees for Delta or Southwest. So, all that useful language I try to teach them so it’s relevant for them.”

Toledo-Acosta estimates she spends at least $200-300 dollars a semester on supplies for her class. She says the Ola PTA gives every teacher $100/year and the Spanish department also pitches in. $125 will certainly help, she says.

The money for the supplements will come from the Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEERs) funds, which is part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding issued to states in the spring of 2020.