By Bob Katzen

Another bill heard by the Education Committee would create a School Supplies for Teachers Program to provide financial and technical assistance to eligible teachers who purchase school supplies online, for their students or themselves, and pay out of their own pocket.

Supplyateacher.org, a national nonprofit that provides teachers with a semester’s worth of essential school supplies, says that 93 percent of teachers nationwide spend their own money on classroom supplies. According to their website, the group gives each teacher two large boxes filled with enough core school supplies to last for at least one semester. They note that pencils, pencil pouches, folders, notebooks, sharpeners, erasers, rulers and pens are included in every box and that additional items are included based on grade level, such as crayons and markers for younger grades, and highlighters and colored pencils for older students.

Supporters of the bill say it is outrageous that teachers, many of whom are underpaid, are forced to buy supplies that the schools should be supplying.

Sen. Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury), the Senate sponsor of the bill and House sponsor Rep. Ed Philips (D-Sharon) did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking them why they sponsored the bill.