Just in time for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4–8, 2026) EdChoice has released its spring 2026 national teacher survey — and the results are both encouraging and sobering. Conducted with Morning Consult, the poll surveyed 1,030 K–12 teachers nationwide and offers one of the most detailed snapshots we have of how educators are feeling right now. The timing is perfect: because the data make a compelling case for why the new federal tax credit scholarship isn’t just good for families and schools — it’s good for teachers too.
What EdChoice’s Spring 2026 Teacher Survey Found
The headline finding is genuinely heartening. Despite years of mounting pressure, 70% of teachers still report feeling a sense of purpose, and 67% say they feel hopeful. A strong 82% say they’re satisfied with their students’ learning.
But the survey also tells a sobering story.
Only 22% of teachers would recommend teaching to a friend or family member — down from 27% just one year ago. Nearly a third say they feel overwhelmed when they think about the future of education. Teachers feel far less optimistic about the state of K–12 education nationally (just 26%) than they do about their own students. The gap between personal calling and professional conditions is wide, and we must take steps to keep it from getting wider.
At a time when Washington and the country face serious teacher shortages, we should be eliminating disincentives to enter and remain in the profession. A complementary EdChoice survey from 2022 highlights just one that we can fix right now: teachers are spending more and more of their own money on the classroom and never being reimbursed.
Teachers Are Subsidizing Their Own Classrooms — and Their Students
The 2022 EdChoice survey found that nearly all teachers spent their own money on classroom expenses in the prior year, averaging $527 out of pocket on supplies. More than 70% bought student supplies directly — pencils, paper, books, and materials.
More recent national data confirms the trend has worsened.
On average, teachers nationwide now spend close to $900 or more on school supplies—a 49% increase since 2015. Washington state teachers know this reality well. They spend an average of $1,041 annually
on school supplies— ranking 11th highest nationally. Virtually all teachers from coast to coast agree (97%) that their school-provided budget doesn’t come close to covering what they need.
What most people probably don’t realize, however, is that our federal, state, and local taxes already provide over $57 billion annually for school-related supplies nationwide (excluding textbooks). Close to half of that (45%) is allocated for instruction-related supplies, totaling nearly $26 billion. Divided among the nearly 50 million public school students nationwide, that works out to $516 per student for school supplies, which is about $11,000 per year per classroom.
Add to that the hundreds of more dollars parents, principals, and donors each pay every year to help ensure every student has the necessary supplies. There’s no good reason teachers—or anyone—should pay twice for school supplies (once through taxes and again out of pocket).
A new federal K-12 educational expense scholarship program will not only help put more supplies in the classroom, it won’t cost schools, the state, or taxpayers a penny more because it’s already paid for with our federal tax dollars.
Why the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Is Good for Teachers
That brings us to the federal program that Washington can’t afford to ignore: the federal tax-credit scholarship program. It is the country’s first federal tax-credit scholarship for K-12 public and private school students. Under the program, individual taxpayers can claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs), which then distribute scholarships to eligible K–12 students from families earning up to 300% of area median income.
The eligible expenses are broad, so in addition to school supplies, scholarships can be used to pay for: books, fees, computer technology, tutoring, transportation, special education services, extended-day and after-school programs, tuition, fees, and more.
When scholarship funds help families cover their children’s school supplies, teachers no longer have to. Every backpack a family buys with scholarship dollars is a backpack a teacher didn’t have to buy out of pocket. It’s a structural fix to a problem teachers have been absorbing for decades.
If just 30% of Washington federal taxpayers donate, more than $700 million annually could be raised for K-12 education expense scholarships— at zero cost to the state budget. More than 30 states have already indicated they will be participating. Washington isn’t among them.
And here’s the catch: while every Washington federal taxpayer can donate to an SGO and claim the credit, they can only donate to nonprofits in states that have officially opted into the program. If Governor Ferguson doesn’t opt Washington in by January 1, 2027, hundreds of millions of education dollars will flow to students and schools in other states instead of ours.
The Best Way to Honor Teachers This Week
Bring the flowers. Write the notes. Thank a teacher in your life. But if you want to make appreciation mean something lasting, urge Gov. Ferguson to keep over $700 million in funding for education where it belongs: in Washington classrooms, helping Washington children, and relieving the teachers who have been covering the gap with their own wallets for too long.
To learn more and urge Gov. Ferguson to opt Washington into the federal tax credit scholarship program, visit WPC’s Take Action page.
