A mom has had it with parents who constantly complain about teachers asking them to help provide school supplies. And she’s got a point, because those parents anger is directed entirely at the wrong people. Mom and Tik toker Camilla says that given how hard the job is, she’s willing to buy her kids teachers whatever they ask for, even if it is, as she put it, a 40 ounce and a black and mild. And her rant touches on a really important point many parents are just totally unaware of just how much many teachers sacrifice out of their own salaries to educate their children. We all know that education in the US is almost universally underfunded, and all those supplies from pencils and paper to things like tissues and hand sanitizer have to come from somewhere. And often a huge chunk of that comes out of teachers own pockets. Okay, that’s not ideal, but they can write it off on their taxes, right? Here’s the kicker the tax deduction that teachers can take for paying for supplies out of their own pocket is capped at an absurd $250. Think about how much school supplies you can buy for 20 to 30 kids for 250 bucks. I’ll give you an example. My best friend is a kindergarten teacher and started her career at a woefully underfunded inner city school that only provided textbooks, paper, and pencils for kindergartners who can’t read or write yet. Everything else she needed from Art supplies to teaching aids and everything in between had to come out of pocket. Buying everything else she needed became a four figure expenditure that thankfully her wealthy parents were able to take care of for her. But most teachers are not in that position. Frankly, teachers asking for help footing the Bill for other people’s kids is not unreasonable in the first place. You don’t ask a house painter to pay for the paint. He or she charges you for it on their invoice. What is completely unreasonable is teachers in a tax funded system having to ask for help buying basic supplies in the first place. Especially in an economy where many parents can’t afford to help. But that’s a failure of government. Parents should be yelling at their legislators, not teachers. And they should be voting for politicians that want to fund education instead of banning books and legislating the private lives of students and teachers. Teachers are not your problem, and frankly the only thing they should ever hear from parents is thank you.