MIAMI – “You name it, we buy it!” laughed Michael Fabiano.
At Get Smart, it’s just parents buying back-to-school supplies for their children.
“We spend a lot of money. This stuff is not cheap by any means,” said Fabiano.
Fabiano is cracking open his own wallet for other children – his students at South Miami Senior High.
“I’d say for sure pre-pandemic I spent about 2-3,000 on my classroom.”
“On average a teacher would spend anything from $800-$3000,” added Michelle Piper-Doobay.
And, she knows.
Piper-Doobay is Get Smart’s general manager, one of south Florida’s most popular school supply stores.
“Teachers do spend a lot of their own money because, a lot of the times, you want a beautiful classroom to educate the children,” explained Piper-Doobay.
“If you didn’t buy this stuff, what would happen?” CBS4 News asked Fabiano, who answered, “My classroom would prob look like a prison cell with nothing on walls, just brick and no one would help so have to pay out of pocket.”
Fabiano is appreciative of the school supply tax holiday in effect right now, but admitting it doesn’t do much for his bottom line.
“It’s not much , it’s a little thing that can go a long way, but we’re still spending a lot, a lot.”
One reason why Michael and so many others say teachers deserve higher salaries.
Fabiano added that most people don’t realize the out-of-pocket expenses paid for by teachers.
