As Costs Pile Up, More Teachers Turn To Crowd Funding To Pay For School Supplies

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Costly school supplies can add up -- not just for parents, but for teachers too.

In a new trend, teachers are turning to crowd funding to help them buy basic classroom necessities.

Kindergarten teacher Joanne Ramirez typically spends about a thousand dollars of her own money each school year to ensure her students have the supplies and tools they need, that includes even the most basic of necessities.

"Every week you're buying something," she told CBS2's Tracee Carrasco, "Copy papers, markers, crayons, pencils, just office supplies, things that we through on a daily basis."

Parents see how much the teachers pay out-of-pocket.

"I'm sure they have families who actually buy the things they have to make a nice, happy learning environment," Delia Martinez said.

While Ramirez and fellow teachers at P.S. 111 in Hell's Kitchen can ask for help from parents and the school for supplies, sometimes it's just not enough.

"We can ask, on average 75 percent of our parents can actually donate what we ask for. The rest we have to kind of do ourselves," Ramirez said.

This school year, Ramirez has turned to the internet for help. She started a GoFundMe page to fill in the gaps and get her students additional tables, cushions, a classroom library, and basic supplies.

"Literally the next morning I woke up, and I saw I had a $100, and the next day $150. It's just been people who spread the word," Ramirez said.

She said family, friends, companies, and even strangers have donated.

"There's actually people that I don't know on that list, who want to remain anonymous, wanted to make some sort of contribution," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said in the three weeks since she started her fundraising efforts, she's collected more than $1,000. She's hoping to reach $1,500 before the school year starts.