The money just isn’t there, and teachers are marching in Oklahoma, tired of having to pay out of pocket for the basic supplies, like pencils, paper and even chairs, for their students.
It is a simple plastic chair that is so well worn that it is cracked in multiple places that has moved complete strangers to help teachers struggling to provide for their students.
Laurissa Kovacs is an art teacher at Puterbaugh Middle School in McAlester. She posted a photo to Facebook to show how her students have to learn. She brings in folding chairs from home because there are not enough chairs for her students, CNN reported.
Her classroom is so small, and she has so many students, that she has to cut back on projects and activities.
In the post, which has been shared nearly 85,000 times, Kovacs explained that she makes only $27,730 take home pay after taxes and insurance. If she would go to another state, she could nearly double that. She says that most of the chairs in her classroom look like the broken blue seat and that when a student gets a good one, they take drastic measures to make sure the seat stays theirs by carrying it to the pencil sharpener instead of allowing it to be vacant for a few minutes.
But complete strangers are lining up to help Kovacs and other teachers in similar situations and have donated more than $44,000 in supplies, CNN reported.
Kovacs had set up a wish list through Amazon where anyone could buy supplies and have them sent to the school. Now, according to the wish list, Kovacs' classroom has enough chairs for all students. And any extra supplies will be shared with other teachers in the school.
Kovacs is among the thousands of Oklahoma teachers who are walking out of their classrooms and are marching on the state Capitol demanding more money for schools and higher pay for teachers, CNN reported.
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