For teachers, getting a classroom ready for a new school year can come with a surprisingly large price tag.
Notebooks. Markers. Pencils. Paper. Cleaning supplies. Storage bins. The list adds up quickly—and too often, teachers end up paying for those essentials out of pocket.
That is the problem WakeEd Partnership is trying to address through Tools4Schools, its free classroom supply store for Wake County Public School System educators.
“State funding does not adequately fund our public schools, particularly in the area of school supplies,” says Kristen Farrell, director of development for WakeEd Partnership. “They’re spending their own money to fill that gap.”
WakeEd launched Tools4Schools in January 2022 after surveying Wake County teachers and finding that educators spent hundreds of dollars of their own money each year to stock their classrooms. Today, WakeEd reports teachers spend more than $1,000 annually on classroom supplies.
A Store Where Teachers Don’t Need Their Wallets
Located at 1816 Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, Tools4Schools looks like a traditional school supply store, except teachers don’t pull out their credit cards at checkout.
Wake County educators and certified staff can register for a shopping appointment each quarter and receive 100 points to use toward new and gently used classroom supplies. No Wake County school is excluded from the program.
During the 2025–26 school year alone, Tools4Schools distributed $486,234 in new supplies and served more than 5,600 educators representing every Wake County public school. Since 2022, the program has distributed more than $2.1 million in classroom supplies.
Keeping the Shelves Stocked
The program reopened for the 2026–27 school year on Aug. 19, but keeping shelves full is a year-round effort.
WakeEd relies on financial contributions, corporate partners and donated supplies from the community. Donors can also purchase highly requested items through the Tools4Schools Amazon Wish List, while volunteers help unpack donations, organize supplies and stock shelves.
For teachers, accessibility matters, too. Farrell says Tools4Schools offers weekday shopping as well as select Saturdays—appointments that can fill particularly quickly.
Teachers, after all, already have plenty on their schedules.
Some, Farrell says, are willing to spend part of a Saturday simply to make sure their students have what they need.
And perhaps that says as much about the need for Tools4Schools as any statistic.
