And, local education advocates say this is happening all too often in the New England region too.

It is concerning that our educators, who already go above and beyond for their students, are now tasked with purchasing what can be considered ‘staple items’ in our schools.

With more than 10,000 responses, the Australian Education Union survey painted a blunt picture of what teachers are providing to students.

The survey found 95 per cent of teachers spent their own money on school supplies and were most likely to spend this money on stationery, classroom supplies and library resources.

It was also found school fundraisers were being used for school essentials, with 50 per cent of schools raising money for computer software, followed by fundraisers for sports equipment and even basic school maintenance.

The Education Union has labelled this as unacceptable, and so has regional P&C president Rachael Sowden. Ms Sowden says school fundraisers should be the “icing on top” of funding which should be made available for standard school supplies.

And this is a point we agree with. School fundraisers should be for luxury items that the students can appreciate and enjoy. However, we can not expect our schools to cough up these supplies with money they don’t have.

What this issue may highlight is a disparity in funding for schools. Regional NSW Teachers Federation organiser Tim Denaher says schools in regional areas are more likely hold fundraising drives for essential items than their city counterparts.

He’s called for more funding for schools in the bush and said the current funding model is “inequitable.”

So what happens from here?

We can only hope that the survey results fall into the hands of a department that can do something about the situation.

Not only do the region’s students deserve the best that the education system has to offer, but so do our school communities and the dedicated and hardworking teachers within them too.