Key Takeaways
- The above-the-line educator expense deduction rises to $350 per eligible educator for the 2026 tax year, up from $300 in 2025 - married couples where both spouses are eligible educators can claim up to $700 combined.
- Starting with 2026, the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) restores a separate itemized deduction for educator expenses, with no dollar cap and no 2% AGI floor - a break that had been suspended since 2018.
- You can claim both: the $350 above-the-line deduction plus an itemized deduction for costs above that, if you itemize and your expenses run higher.
- Eligible educators are K-12 teachers, instructors, counselors, principals, and aides working at least 900 hours a school year - and starting after 2025, interscholastic sports administrators and coaches qualify too.
- Professional development costs - including travel, lodging, and 50% of meal costs - are newly deductible starting in 2026, along with athletic supplies for health and PE classes.
Eligible K-12 teachers and school staff can deduct up to $350 in unreimbursed classroom expenses on their 2026 tax return, up from $300 in 2025. It’s a small bump, but it’s not the real news this year.
The bigger change is that the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), passed in 2025, restored a second, separate deduction for educator expenses — one that had been off the table since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) suspended it. For the first time in years, teachers who spend well beyond the capped amount have a real way to deduct the rest.
What Is the Educator Expense Deduction?
This is an above-the-line deduction, meaning it reduces your adjusted gross income (AGI) whether you take the standard deduction or itemize. You claim it on Schedule 1 of Form 1040, and it covers unreimbursed money you spent on your classroom out of your own pocket.
For 2025 returns, the cap was $300 per eligible educator ($600 if you’re married filing jointly and both spouses qualify). For 2026, that rises to $350 per educator ($700 combined for two qualifying spouses).
Who Counts as an Eligible Educator
You qualify if you’re a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide who works at least 900 hours during the school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education under state law.
Starting after 2025, the definition widens to include interscholastic sports administrators and coaches — a group that wasn’t covered before. Substitute teachers and retired educators who don’t hit the 900-hour threshold generally don’t qualify for the above-the-line deduction, though there’s a workaround for some of them below.
What Expenses Qualify
Qualifying costs include books, classroom supplies, computer equipment (and related software and services), and other supplementary materials you use directly with students. Starting in 2026, the list expands to include:
- Athletic supplies for health or physical education classes — previously excluded
- Professional development costs tied to your curriculum, including course and conference fees
- Travel and lodging for that professional development, plus 50% of meal costs while traveling for it
The IRS also still lists personal protective equipment, disinfectant, and other COVID-era prevention supplies as qualifying expenses, carried over from earlier guidance. See the IRS’s educator expense deduction topic page for the full, current list.
Subscribe or follow us — I’ll update this page as the IRS issues more guidance on the 2026 changes.
The New Itemized Deduction Under OBBBA
This is the part most articles on this topic still miss. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, OBBBA restores educators’ ability to deduct unreimbursed classroom expenses as an itemized deduction — on top of, not instead of, the $350 above-the-line amount.
Before 2018, this existed as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to a 2% of AGI floor, meaning only the portion of your expenses above 2% of your income counted. TCJA suspended the entire category. The restored version under OBBBA has no 2% floor and no dollar cap — every qualifying dollar above your $350 above-the-line claim is potentially deductible, provided you itemize rather than take the standard deduction.
Whether itemizing makes sense for you depends on your total deductions relative to the standard deduction, which OBBBA also raised — worth checking against your full tax bracket and standard deduction breakdown before deciding. If you own a home in a high-tax state, the new 4x SALT cap is often the bigger factor in that itemize-or-not decision than educator expenses alone.
Two Worked Examples
Mark teaches fourth grade and spends about $220 a year on classroom books and supplies. He takes the standard deduction and doesn’t itemize. Mark simply claims the full $220 as part of his $350 above-the-line deduction — no itemizing required, no floor to clear.
Sarah, a high school teacher, spends $1,400 in 2026: some supplies, a professional conference with travel and lodging, and PE equipment for her health class. She itemizes because her mortgage interest and other deductions already exceed the standard deduction. Sarah claims $350 above-the-line, then deducts the remaining $1,050 as an itemized educator expense — with no floor reducing it and no cap limiting it.
Common Issues to Watch Out For
I get questions about this deduction every fall when school supply lists go out, so a few things worth flagging:
Keep receipts for everything. Documentation matters more now that there’s an unlimited itemized option on the table — the IRS can ask for proof of any amount you claim, not just the capped portion.
The $350/$700 cap is per educator, not per household. If you and your spouse are both eligible educators, each of you separately claims up to $350 — you can’t shift one spouse’s unused cap to the other.
Reimbursed expenses don’t count. If your school or district reimburses you and that reimbursement isn’t included in Box 1 of your W-2, you can’t also deduct it — that would be double-dipping.
Substitutes and part-timers under 900 hours usually don’t qualify for the above-the-line deduction. If you itemize anyway, unreimbursed classroom purchases can sometimes be treated as a charitable contribution to your school, since public schools are government entities — talk to a tax professional about documentation requirements if this applies to you.
Don’t confuse this with education credits for your own kids. The educator expense deduction is for what teachers spend on their classrooms, not what parents spend on their children’s education — for that, see the AOTC and Lifetime Learning Credit rules instead.
Looking Ahead: 2027 Outlook
The above-the-line amount is adjusted for inflation in $50 increments when cumulative inflation justifies a bump — that’s how it moved from $300 to $350 for 2026 after sitting flat since 2022. Whether it rises again for 2027 depends on inflation data the IRS typically finalizes and announces in its annual inflation-adjustment revenue procedure, usually released in October or November of the prior year.
The restored itemized deduction has no scheduled expiration in the current law, so I expect it to remain available for 2027 filers in the same unlimited form, barring further legislative changes. I’ll update this page once the IRS confirms the official 2027 figures.
