Stop Buying It Yourself

You’re out of supplies. You need reeds by Friday, more snare sticks tomorrow and a school-owned trumpet needed to be repaired yesterday.

You could submit a purchase order, but this will take a minimum of two weeks. So, you pull out your own credit card. That’s what a responsible teacher does, after all. Kids need stuff, you have to run rehearsals and $100 isn’t going to destroy you.

Except it usually isn’t $100.

Each year, music teachers spend an average of $945 of their own money on their programs. Early in my career, I worked with a band budget of -$1,500 for the entire year. The previous director overspent, and now it was on me to figure this out. It’s a little hard to be creative with budgeting when you start with a negative number.

I understand why teachers spend their own money. Sometimes buying it yourself is faster and easier than figuring out which form needs three signatures before someone will approve buying two bottles of valve oil. Situations like this happen almost every week.

The problem isn’t the occasional emergency purchase. The problem is when your money becomes part of the program budget.

Your Personal Credit Card Is Not a Budget Line

If the program needs $1,000 worth of supplies every year and you provide $700 of them, the official budget may make the program look adequately funded. It isn’t because you’re covering a huge percentage of the cost.

This can happen without anyone trying to take advantage of you. Your principal may believe that the current budget is working because students keep getting what they need. The business office sees roughly the same spending each year. Meanwhile, you’re standing at the local music store counter buying another set of sticks.

There’s also the tax argument: “At least I can deduct it.” But that’s not exactly how tax deductions work. A tax deduction reduces taxable income. It does not reimburse what you spent.

I’m not suggesting that you refuse to help a student over a $4 bottle of valve oil. I am suggesting that routinely subsidizing your employer isn’t the way.

Yes, we feel bad. It’s not fun to say, “We don’t have that right now.”

I don’t enjoy saying it. No teacher does. But there is a difference between a student waiting temporarily while you use the district purchasing process and a teacher becoming the unofficial purchasing department.

Learn the Purchasing System Before the Emergency

Purchase orders and reimbursements are annoying. Pretty much anything that’s not teaching is annoying. But these processes are necessary and only become more annoying when you don’t consistently follow the process.

Even if no one ever went through this with you, find out how purchasing works in your district before you need something — way before you need something.

Ask:

• What account or budget code should I use?
• Who approves a requisition?
• How long does a normal order take?
• Are there approved vendors?
• What requires bids or additional approval?
• When does purchasing close for the school year?
• Is there an emergency purchase or reimbursement process?

Then put important budget dates on your calendar.

If purchasing closes in April, this can mean that you cannot purchase anything after the deadline regardless of whether or not your students need supplies. If you find yourself approaching this date and have any funds left over, it’s best to purchase some of your most commonly used items.

Find the person who understands the purchasing system. In some schools, it’s an office assistant. In others, it’s someone in the business office.

And if something goes wrong, ask how you can make it easier next time. “How should I handle this next time?” usually gets me farther than showing up irritated because something wasn’t ordered quickly enough.

Make a Five-Year List

Instrument purchases are difficult because we tend to ask for them when something finally dies.

“Good morning. I need $10,000 because our tuba broke.”

No administrator wants to see a kid sitting on the sidelines, but it’s also tough to pull $10K out of a hat with no notice. Instead, build a five-year replacement plan.

Inventory every school-owned instrument. At minimum, record:

• Instrument
• Serial number or asset number
• Approximate age
• General condition
• Current repair needs
• Estimated replacement year
• Estimated replacement cost

Then spread the most likely replacements across the next five years. Don’t say, “Our instruments are terrible.” Instead, report that “Nine instruments will likely become unusable within five years. Here is the replacement schedule and estimated annual cost.”

You are bringing a solution to your administration, not just a problem. A detailed plan also helps when an instrument fails earlier than expected. You can show that it was already identified as a replacement need instead of trying to explain a surprise expense two weeks before a concert.

Write the plan for someone who knows nothing about music — using business language may make it easier for your decisionmaker to say yes.

Just Say No

About five years into my teaching career, I had it. I told myself that I wouldn’t spend another dollar on my program because other programs — especially athletics — clearly were getting funded.

So, I stopped swiping my own card. No one noticed. After a month, I finally went to my administration.

“I’ve made the choice to no longer pay for anything for our program out of pocket.”

“Noted. Why were you doing that in the first place?”

“Because we didn’t have the money and we needed supplies like drumsticks.”

“OK. Next time, come to us first. We can’t make any promises, but if they are things required for our program, we can see what we can work out.”

It wasn’t perfect, but we started to get a little more funding. I did have a few standoffs — for example, some surprise instrument repairs would have stopped us from performing at a festival, but through some emergency funds combined with borrowing equipment, we made it through. And I didn’t spend any of my own money.

This can be uncomfortable for an early-career or non-tenured teacher. Don’t throw down the gauntlet right from the start. Instead, speak your concerns to your admin early and often, and always come to them with solutions.

If You Crowdfund, Get Permission First

Many teachers turn to crowdfunding. I’ve used it as a last resort, but only if my administration approves it. Some districts think that crowdfunding makes them look bad and will try to find another solution (my motto is there’s always money somewhere — we just have to find it). Others do not allow crowdfunding even when they aren’t able to help (this is called being stuck between a rock and a hard place).

Regardless, speak to your administration first, and always get permission before soliciting funds. Be aware that in most cases any materials purchased through campaigns like DonorsChoose or classroom wish lists may be district property and require a donation approval process.

Let the Budget Show the Need

If you haven’t tracked your program’s actual costs, do it for one school year. Keep a record of:

• Consumable supplies
• Repairs
• Music
• Method books
• Equipment
• Instrument replacement
• Other recurring expenses

Track what the school paid for and what you paid for personally. At the end of the year, add it up.

You can say, “We spent $1,480 on consumables, $2,200 on repairs and $900 on music. I personally covered $430 of those costs. Here is what we should budget for next year.”

If repairs take a large part of the budget, look at whether another repair arrangement makes more sense. If reeds and other consumables are predictable, build them into the annual request. If instruments are aging out, use the five-year replacement plan.

When I had almost no budget, documenting the need sometimes felt pointless. Everyone knew we didn’t have enough money, so why spend time proving it? Because “here is exactly what this program costs to operate” and “we need more money” hit differently. The people responsible for funding need to see the whole story.

You already brought your teaching skills, your time and probably several hours this week that nobody paid you for. You shouldn’t have to buy the reeds as well.