Mansfield high school teacher Danielle Murphy knew that she would be faced with challenges when she began her teaching career 17 years ago. While she was expecting a low paycheck and even the politics of dealing with parents, she wasn’t prepared to need to provide her own classroom supplies, let alone meals for her students.
“My students (have) had a lot of issues. I even had a homeless student I was bringing lunch for at one point,” said Murphy.
Teachers do so much more than simply teach. They act as behavioral specialists when students need structure, therapists when students need to talk, and even protectors when something threatens the classroom’s safety. They are community pillars and are often our first mentors, but their compensation doesn’t always seem to match their responsibilities.
Paying the costs
Educators get paid the least amongst other degreed professionals. According to Salary.com, Texas physicians make an average annual salary of $196,000, and attorneys average $112,000.
The average pay for a teacher in Texas is just under $57,000.
A single adult living in Texas needs to make around $90,000 to live comfortably in 2025, according to SmartAsset.
As teachers struggle with making their money stretch, while investing in their students, there is another investment with a hefty down payment.
In 2023, the National Education Association found that teachers spend between $500-$750 of their own money for their classrooms each year. However, in Texas, a 2024 survey showed that the average price for state teachers is more $1,000.
Making it work
When supplies are proven scarce, teachers may turn to the community for help. Ms. A, a first-grade teacher at a Dallas elementary school, helped create a school supply drive with the neighborhood surrounding her school. Through this drive, teachers were asked to provide a list of needed supplies, which was then shared on social media to solicit donations. In the end, over 600 items were donated to the teachers.
“It is important because that means us teachers are not spending a lot of our own money, which we do, because we buy a lot of extra stuff.”
However, without community drives, teachers often rely on themselves.
Many teachers turn to second jobs when they need more money. A 2022 TexasAFT report found that 52% of Texas teachers work a second job, and nearly 90 percent of them do so during the school year. That means evenings and weekends blur into additional work, leaving little room for rest.
Murphy can spend up to $300 on supplies, but it isn’t easy to come up with the money. She takes up side jobs like Uber Eats, tutoring, and even selling handmade crafts online.
“All of that kind of goes towards just filling in that money,” she said.
While Texas did sign the historic HB 2 that offered legislation to increase teacher pay, teaches are still left with the burden of spending money on supplies that the district won’t provide for them.
Recently, the Texas House introduced House Bill 128. The bill would’ve granted teachers $1,000 to purchase supplies; however, the bill died on August 15.
The attempts to help Texas educators fall short, and teachers are stuck with even more burdens than before. However, Murphy stay committed to education knowing that she is making positive changes in her students’ lives keeps. But she finds it imperative that teachers are given the same grace and community that they are expected to give to their students.
“Try to be kind to teachers, support them when you can.”
