How Teachers Can Save Money with the Educator Expense Deduction

Teachers do a lot for their students and for their communities, and a surprising amount of it comes out of their own pockets. Figuring out how to save something on your taxes while you are busy buying resources for the next generation is not always obvious. Congress and the IRS did create a deduction specifically for this, though, and it can put real money back in your pocket at filing time. Here are the most important things to know about it.

It’s well-known that grade-school teachers are increasingly footing the bill for their classroom expenses. Drawing on a federal Department of Education survey, a May 2018 New York Times article reported that 94 percent of public school teachers in the United States paid out-of-pocket for their classroom supplies without the benefit of reimbursement.

For most teachers, out-of-pocket expenses for school supplies reached upwards of $500 per school year, with nearly 10 percent shelling out $1,000 for this same period. The Educational Market Association says that school under-funding has resulted in a situation where $1.6 billion in expenses for classroom supplies has been shifted from parents, or from struggling school districts, to teachers.

Spending has climbed since then. Teachers from prekindergarten through grade 12 put an average of $750 of their own money into school supplies during the 2020 to 2021 school year, and roughly 30% of them spent $1,000 or more.

For the vast majority of public school educators who dip into their personal income to purchase school supplies, the Educator Expense Deduction can help to offset the burden of these unreimbursed classroom expenses.

Here is how the IRS describes eligible expenses in Topic no. 458:

If you’re an eligible educator, you can deduct up to $300 ($600 if married filing jointly and both spouses are eligible educators, but not more than $300 each) of unreimbursed trade or business expenses. Qualified expenses are amounts you paid or incurred for participation in professional development courses, books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services), other equipment, and supplementary materials that you use in the classroom.

Those figures cover the 2025 tax year. The cap is indexed to inflation, so it rises to $350 per educator for 2026, or $700 on a joint return where both spouses qualify.

Who Qualifies as an Eligible Educator?

The Educator Expense Deduction is available to any teacher who meets the following criteria:

They were employed as a teacher, instructor, counselor, principal or aide for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

They were employed for a minimum of 900 hours at a school that provides elementary or secondary education as determined under state law. (Regardless of whether the school they worked at was public, private or religious.)

A few people who work in education are left out. Preschool staff do not qualify, neither do college or graduate school employees, and you cannot claim it for homeschooling your own children.

What Expenses Can Teachers Deduct?

Provided an individual meets the prior criteria, items eligible for this include:

School supplies such as pencils, pens, paper, rulers, folders, binders, etc.

Computer equipment and software.

Subject-specific supplies, such as athletic equipment for gym teachers, paints and brushes for art teachers, anatomical models for health teachers, and so forth.

Professional development courses count too, as long as they relate to the curriculum or the students you teach and your school did not pay for them.

As long as an educator can make a compelling case that particular items are necessary for supporting learning in their classroom, and as long as these items have not been reimbursed, almost any item can qualify for this deduction.

One wrinkle on health and physical education classes. Supplies for those only qualify under the standard version of the deduction when they are athletic supplies.

You also have to subtract certain tax-free money you received during the year before calculating what you can deduct. That includes savings bond interest you excluded because you paid higher education expenses, distributions from a 529 plan, withdrawals from a Coverdell education savings account, and any reimbursement that did not show up in box 1 of your W-2.

How Much Is the Deduction Worth?

Teachers are permitted to claim the Educator Expense Deduction regardless of whether they choose the standard deduction or to itemize their tax deductions. It sits above the line on your return, which means it lowers your adjusted gross income and can help you qualify for other breaks further down.

A teacher filing as single can deduct as much as $350 for the 2026 tax year, up from $300 for 2025.

Married teachers who file a joint return can each claim up to $350 for 2026, for a total of $700 between them, as long as both spouses are eligible educators.

Spouses cannot both claim the same expense. The IRS does not let the same dollar get deducted twice.

What Changed for the 2026 Tax Year?

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a second, separate Educator Expense Deduction that starts with the 2026 tax year. This one is an itemized deduction, so you can only use it if you itemize rather than taking the standard deduction. It has no dollar cap at all.

It also reaches further than the original. Interscholastic sports administrators and coaches qualify for the itemized version even though they do not qualify for the above-the-line one. The itemized deduction covers non-athletic supplies for health and physical education classes, and it covers items used for instructional activities outside the classroom.

You can use both in the same year if you itemize. Say you spent $500 on your classroom in 2026. Claim $350 above the line, then claim the remaining $150 as an itemized deduction. What you cannot do is count the same expense toward both.

Before you decide: the above-the-line version reduces your AGI and the itemized version does not. For most teachers spending under $350, taking it above the line is the better move.

How Do You Claim the Deduction?

You claim it on Form 1040, Form 1040-SR, or Form 1040-NR, with Schedule 1 attached. The educator expense line sits on line 11 of Schedule 1.

Keep Your Records Throughout the Year

If you plan on taking this deduction, start tracking your spending now rather than reconstructing it in April. Use an app on your phone, a spreadsheet, a folder of receipts, whatever you will actually stick with. The method matters less than the habit.

Hold onto proof that the expense was not reimbursed, too. You cannot deduct anything your school paid you back for, anything covered by a grant, or anything funded from another source.

While some teachers may feel overwhelmed by the lack of funding for their classrooms, claiming the Educator Expense Deduction when they file their tax return can help to mitigate their out-of-pocket costs.

If you are still sorting out the difference between a deduction and a credit, we break that down in our guide to tax credits versus tax deductions. And when you are ready to file, E-file.com will walk you through claiming it.

Note: Tax laws may change with little notice. We do our best to keep this information current, but it is provided on an “AS IS” basis. It should not be considered, legal, financial, or other professional guidance. For more, see our terms.