School Choice & Charters

Debit Cards for Teachers?

By Liana Loewus — October 25, 2012 1 min read
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At an education summit today, Florida Governor Rick Scott said he wants to give teachers debit cards so that they no longer have to pay for classroom supplies out-of-pocket.

The proposal is part of the Republican governor’s 2013 education agenda, which you can find here. The agenda itself does not offer specifics on the debit cards, but a press release explains that they would be “supported by state, district, and hopefully private sector funds.”

Many teachers around the country already receive as much as several hundred dollars in stipends for school supplies. However, as we recently reported, some districts have slashed those funds as a result of budget woes. In addition, retrieving stipends from the district can pose an administrative burden for teachers—one that debit cards could conceivably alleviate. But then, the devil is, as always, in the funding details.

Governor Scott’s plan also proposes putting $2 million toward competitive teacher-training grants, removing enrollment caps at charter schools, and “not implement[ing] new testing requirements that do not support the new Common Core State Standards.”

A version of this news article first appeared in the Teaching Now blog.