TEACHERS SOMETIMES REACH INTO OWN POCKETS

Speaking of what teachers do for us: They're also buying hundreds of dollars worth of school supplies for our children. And they're doing it with money out of their own pockets.

Each teacher in the Cape Girardeau School District gets about $50 for supplies each year. That doesn't go very far in terms of buying enough stuff for 20 to 25 students.

Yes, what they buy are extras. They could just use the textbooks and teach lesson after lesson, hoping it sinks in. But teachers are by nature giving people, and most can't stand to see an opportunity to enhance instruction go by unused.

Sometimes that means putting the books down for some hands-on projects. And that means money.

To the district's credit, officials are working out a way to give teachers more control over school budgets and, ultimately, more money for supplies. We hope that will work. Taxpayers, not teachers, should be providing school supplies.