Why do US teachers have to ask parents to bring basic school supplies?
I've also seen US teachers spending hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets to stock classrooms.
I spent a lot of time in European schools and I've never heard of teachers having to stock their own classrooms or fundraise for things like playgrounds, etc.
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What is "basic school supplies" for you? In Europe, there is a list of basic supplies students need and the displays show up in stores around July: things like pencils, pens, erasers, paper, binders, folders, punches, staplers/staples, paper clips, correction fluid... There's a lot
In Germany, generally, students are expected to bring their own stuff, it's not the school's/teacher's responsibility to provide pencils and what not. That's probably where the confusion lies, there is no scenario in which a teacher has to specifically ask parents to provide supplies because they do that anyway.
And Parents do get enough money to buy those supplies, if they don't provide their kids with it they might get in trouble.
That's what I meant in response to "ask parents to bring basic school supplies". "Ask" could also be covered in a list of suggested supplies. But, anyway, parents are providing those things, which counters the original question