BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — While inflation has dropped significantly since the pandemic, teachers says they're still feeling the pain of high prices as they prepare their classrooms for the school year.
- Video shows McFarland High School teacher putting the finishing touches on his classroom decorations
- Crismat Mateo, the drama teacher at McFarland High School tells me he travels to Bakersfield to buy all his school supplies.
- Mateo has spent $500 out of pocket plus $800 from the school's lottery budget to prepare his class for the year.
Buying supplies like notebooks might cost a little bit more this year, but one local teacher is working in collaboration with his school to get students the resources they need.
Four weeks into the start of classes, Crismat Mateo, the drama teacher at McFarland High School, puts the finishing touches on his classroom decorations.
“It’s still a little bit incomplete, but we’re getting it to a point where it feels like home," Mateo said.
He says it costs about $500 out of pocket to get his classroom prepared for the year.
“This year in particular was a little tough to budget because it was my first year teaching drama,” Mateo said.
He says the school provides an $800 lottery budget to help, but that’s not all he’s worried about.
“The supplies that we have here in town are much more expensive than they are in Bakersfield,” he said.
Mateo says he sees an upcharge on goods in rural areas, meaning he resorts to buying all his supplies in Bakersfield, which he estimates saves 20-30%.
Still, in 11 years of teaching, Mateo says this year hurt his pocket the most.
“We definitely felt the impacts of inflation this year.”
In July 2022 inflation hit 8.5%, raising prices significantly for consumers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Since then, inflation has slowed, but not without leaving a mark on the economy.
“We’re currently at a low inflation rate," Sherod Waite, the president and CEO of Moneywise, said. "It just doesn’t feel like it because prices are still high.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports inflation at 2.9% in July 2024, which Waite says falls below the 30 year average inflation rate.
“We’re still paying 20% more for things over just a four year period, so things are still more expensive but they’re not growing as expensive as they were in almost 30 years,” Waite said.
Waite adds while items like grocery prices have fallen, the things teachers typically purchase remain high in price, so Mateo has gotten creative.
While stretching the lottery budget provided by the school, Mateo says the drama program can fundraise for their productions through support from the community.
“Productions aren’t cheap, and although we want to do kind of low budget production, we also want it to be quality productions," Mateo said.
If you would like to sponsor the drama program, you can reach out to Mateo on Instagram @princecrismat.
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