Today, Governor Roy Cooper delivered supplies collected from the Governor’s 2nd Annual School Supply Drive to Hidden Valley Elementary School in Charlotte. Supplies are being delivered to schools across the state as part of the annual drive.
“Parents and communities work hard to support their schools by donating supplies and funds, but we know our classrooms still have unmet needs,” Gov. Cooper said. “We need teachers focused on reading and math, not counting down the days until the paper supply runs out.”
The Governor’s Annual School Supply Drive was created to provide essential school supplies to classrooms and help support families and communities across North Carolina.
Between July 30 and August 17, 2018, through the Governor’s School Supply Drive North Carolinians donated over 3,000 boxes of essential classroom supplies like paper, pens, pencils, notebooks, and sanitizing wipes at State Employees Credit Union Branches across the state and state government buildings in Raleigh. Communities In Schools chapters and AmeriCorps volunteers are sorting and distributing the supplies to schools in counties where they were collected.
At their offices in Raleigh, state agencies in the Cooper Administration collected school supplies for public schools in rural counties. Cabinet secretaries are delivering those to schools in counties including Robeson, Burke, Madison, Lenoir and Pasquotank.
The supply drive also raised $10,000 in donations to help schools with the greatest need buy supplies.
On average, teachers spend about $500 of their own money on supplies for their classrooms each year. For the past two years, Gov. Cooper’s proposed budget has included a $150 annual school supply stipend for every public school teacher in the state to help offset the cost of classroom supplies. The North Carolina General Assembly did not include the teacher supply stipend in their budgets.
“This has been an incredible effort, but as I’ve said before, it’s my hope that one day supply drives like this one won’t be necessary,” Gov. Cooper said. “Until then, we should do all we can to support teachers in their work and this year’s School Supply Drive is a meaningful step forward.”
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