Mississippi teachers say new state-mandated process for buying classroom supplies is more difficult

Weeks before the first day of school, teachers across Mississippi say state leaders have made it more difficult for them to access money for classroom supplies.

Educators have to complete training before they’re able to spend the money the state gives them for classroom supplies, but teachers say the live training has been hard to access — the online meetings have been filled to capacity. Teachers also say that to buy from local vendors, they now have to go through an arduous reimbursement process.

The money for teachers’ classroom supplies comes from the Education Enhancement Fund, or procurement card program. EEF, established in 2012, gives every K-12 public school teacher $748 — around $25 million in total — to buy supplies for their classrooms. But educators have long said they get the money too late for it to be useful. A report released last year by State Auditor Shad White’s office found that a bulk of the money is locked for teachers as they prepare their classrooms because of the state-mandated Aug. 1 deadline to activate the cards.

This year, Mississippi Department of Education leaders said they wanted to make the process easier for teachers by giving districts access to the money on July 15 and switching from physical cards to a digital wallet platform.

The agency has a one-year $573,000 contract with the platform ClassWallet, according to Shanderia Minor, a spokesperson for the state Education Department.

The new platform is used in several states and allows teachers to purchase supplies directly from online, pre-approved vendors. State Superintendent Lance Evans said ClassWallet streamlines the process of buying classroom supplies, and the change reflects input from school district leaders across Mississippi.

One frustration for teachers is that many of the vendors they buy supplies from are not included in the list of more than 160 vendors on ClassWallet’s marketplace , where teachers can spend their EEF money.

According to the state Education Department’s website, five Mississippi-based vendors are approved for teacher reimbursements, as are Walmart and TeachersPayTeachers, an online marketplace for classroom supplies.

But teachers then have to spend their own money upfront. Additionally, their purchase must be approved before they can be reimbursed.

If teachers want to buy from local vendors not included on that list, the state Department of Education must first contact that vendor to ensure they’ll give teachers itemized receipts and that the items will be tax exempt. Then the vendor will be added to the list, and teachers can submit reimbursement requests through ClassWallet.

Because of the administrative burden, educators are concerned they’ll have to wait weeks to get their money back.

“The words I’ve heard are ‘insane,’ ‘cumbersome,’ and ‘frustrating,’” said Kelly Riley, executive director of Mississippi Professional Educators. Riley said she’s received numerous emails from educators across the state who are confused by the new process and annoyed by the extra layers of bureaucracy. “There’s just a lot of unknowns at this point.”

White’s office released a statement on social media Tuesday that the education agency has “misinformed the public” about the program and called on the state Education Department to rectify issues with the new process.

“Teachers will again, through no fault of their own, have to spend their own funds to get classroom supplies while they’re forced to navigate through bureaucratic hoops to get the money promised to them,” the statement reads. “This should not be complicated.”

State Education Department officials say they’ve been communicating with districts for months, but some teachers say the change has caught them by surprise. Additionally, educators must first attend or watch one of five virtual training sessions scheduled this month before their district can activate their accounts.

Many teachers say they were unable to access the first training on July 13.

Marie Lane, a longtime special education teacher in north Mississippi, was one of those teachers waiting for the Zoom meeting to start on Monday.

“At 8:40 a.m., I had my notebook out, my laptop plugging in, all excited,” she said. But as the 9 a.m. meeting started, Lane was still waiting to get in. She got a message a few minutes later that the webinar had reached capacity.

Lane hopes she can get into one of the other meetings. She’s been gleaning what she can from other educators on social media. That’s how Lane realized how much the state was paying ClassWallet to administer the EEF program.

“That really grates on my last nerve,” she said. “That’s money that could be spent in the classrooms for these kids.”

She’s doubtful she’ll get what she needs for her class — such as cups for paint to make learning more accessible for her students, a walkie-talkie to communicate with her assistant teacher, dim lamps for her students with sensory needs — before the first day of school on Aug. 3.

“There’s no way at this point I’ll be able to submit a list and get it by the time students are back,” she said. “Lots of times when you’re teaching and someone isn’t getting what we’re doing, you think, ‘If I could run to Walmart real quick for Play-Doh or beads, I could help them.’ But now, if we don’t want to spend our own money, we’re going to have to place an order, wait for it to be accepted and delivered.”

Lane plans to use the money she’s gotten from a recent yard sale and selling items on Facebook to buy the supplies she needs.

“We as teachers have enough on our plate,” she said. “For special education teachers like me, it’s still required that our students meet certain standards. Meeting those without the supplies we need is going to be really tough.”

Riley said that’s a frustration being voiced by educators across the state. They’re also concerned about the platform’s vendor list, she said, which includes about 50 homeschool-centric vendors.

ClassWallet’s website promotes the new federal tax scholarship program and includes testimonials from homeschoolers and education savings account recipients across the country.

Jean Cook, a spokesperson for the state education agency, said the homeschool vendors are included on ClassWallet’s list because the platform operates across the country. The Mississippi-specific vendor list will be updated weekly, according to the agency’s website.

A statement released by the education agency on Monday notes, “Many other states do not have programs like Mississippi’s that give teachers money to buy supplemental instructional materials for their individual classrooms.”

David Bates, a former teacher, is the owner of one of the Mississippi-approved vendors — Old School Learning Depot in Pascagoula. His business provides tutoring services for students after school and sells classroom supplies for teachers. In past years, Bates drove a bus packed with supplies to local schools, allowing teachers to buy in-person with their EEF cards without leaving school property.

But now, he estimates that the new process will result in a $60,000 loss in revenue for his business because teachers will want to avoid spending their own money.

“For a mom-and-pop shop, that is a pretty big chunk of money,” he said.

“I’m not combating change,” Bates said. “I just want the opportunity to be part of the change. I’m frustrated about last-minute rollout and last-minute communication about how to make this work for everyone.”

Keyana Hawthorne, an English teacher at Murrah High School in Jackson, was initially skeptical about the agency switching to ClassWallet. Now, she said she hates that she was right.

Hawthorne plans to attend a training on July 28, which she said conflicts with the professional development she receives in the days leading up to school. Her students return July 29.

As a result, all of her classroom supplies will come out of her own pocket this year, Hawthorne said. She’s planning to buy them in increments because she can’t afford to buy everything in one go. With two children of her own to buy school supplies for, Hawthorne said she’s overwhelmed, frustrated and disappointed.

“This is pulling from my little budget, and it makes me question: How are we supposed to survive over here?” she said. “I’m so frustrated right now. This is what happens when teachers aren’t asked to sit at the tables where crucial decisions are being made.”

This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.