Many teachers are up in arms over a new way of purchasing classroom supplies. The Mississippi Department of Education says each qualified teacher has been allocated $748 in Education Enhancement Funds and they’re being told they can access the money starting today through a new digital platform called ClassWallet. Kosciusko Middle Elementary teacher Lindsey Fitts has several concerns about the new system.
“I cannot go to a local store and purchase what I need for my classroom right then. I can’t go to my local businesses and support them after they have supported us teachers all these years.”
She says there are a lot of questions about how things are done now.
“If I were to try to go to a store, I would have to pay for it myself and then apply for a reimbursement. But that hasn’t even been set up. So, you don’t know if that’s actually going to work or not.”
And Fitts says there’s no way for teachers to quickly get the supplies they need from the vendor list because it takes five to ten days to get an order approved.
“Then you have to wait for it to be shipped. So, you’re talking possibly two weeks to get items for your classroom.”
Another local teacher says that’s a real problem.
“There’s classroom teachers that decide to do a project, you know, in the next day or two and they won’t be able to get their items as fast as they want.”
That teacher at Kosciusko Junior High asked that we not use her name.
The Department of Education says the digital platform helps teachers track their spending and automatically collect receipts. It says more than 160 vendors are in the system and teachers can request that local businesses be added.
State Auditor Shad White has been sharply critical of the changes in the way classroom supplies are purchased. He says the new program makes it much more difficult for teachers to spend the funds and he’s calling on the Department of Education to address their concerns immediately.
More information on the EEF/ClassWallet system can be found HERE.
Concerned
July 15, 2026 at 7:11 amNot to mention, the “approved” vendors are probably places that jack up the prices because they can. I know most teachers with a physical card will shop for the best deal to get the best amount of supplies they can. I’ve seen trying to buy a classroom table from a store that was $ExxonMobil couldn’t be purchased because it wasn’t an “approved” vendor, then the approved vender charged $xxx* for the exact table.