School starts in early August here in my school district, so I took my kids back-to-school shopping a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of July. Holy cow, it was expensive!
A couple of disclaimers first: one, I'm a public school teacher and I know how much money teachers spend out of pocket, and two, technically the supplies list is "optional" (but if you refer to disclaimer one, you'll understand why I send my kids to school with the items off said list).
The fact that each school year when my kids leave school for summer break they get sent home with a supply list for the following year is pathetic, and the things on that supply list makes it even more pathetic: reams of copy paper, pens, pencils, glue. These are the basic building blocks of elementary education and school districts are not supplying them anymore. They expect teachers to buy them out-of-pocket or parents to provide them for their students.
My school district provides free breakfast and lunch to over 60% of the kids in my district, but teachers aren't allowed to photocopy? I don't get it.
All of these things add up to the reason I take my kids back-to-school shopping and always try to buy some extras for the teacher. The week school supplies were set out in Target, the kids and I headed there with our trusty lists. I bought 4 reams of copy paper, two each for each kid's teacher, 13 composition books (nine(!) for one kid, four for the other), two thumb drives, two packs of colored pencils, and countless other supplies. Each of my kids' teachers also asked for boxes of tissues, Clorox wipes, and various and sundry individual items. We bought it all.
Knowing this expense was coming up, I have been budgeting for it. For each of the past two months, I earmarked $100 of our budget to "school". In addition to the kids supplies, I bought some supplies for my own classroom since they were at rock bottom prices. I bought 45 spiral notebooks at $.17 each, several packs of Expo markers, some history related flash cards and a few other odds and ends. In total, we spent $190 on actual school supplies, of which about $40 was for my classroom. That means that each of my kids needed $75 worth of school supplies to start the year... which brings me back to the question, when did public school become so expensive?
When I was little, my parents only expense on the first day of school was a new outfit and shoes. Now, I've spent more in the first week then my parents had to in a whole school year! And if that's not enough, several times throughout the year I'm asked to pay for this field trip or that art teacher... Public school is no longer free.
Sorry, rant over. (I think.) In addition to school supplies I bought the kids each a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school. My daughter chose a cute dress, which wouldn't be a shocker if you knew her, and my son picked a new tee-shirt... yep, just a tee-shirt, which he had planned to wear with some old basketball shorts. I got him to compromise and wear some plaid shorts he has that are a little nicer. My daughter needed some new "unmentionables" and my son needed new socks. They both got a few pairs of shoes, for my daughter, some ballet flats and two pairs of Converse and for my son, two pairs of new athletic shoes. Again, this was an expense that I knew was coming so I was able to save for some of it. Just as with our school budget, I had done the same thing with clothes. Unfortunately, the shoes alone almost completely wiped out our $200 budget. With their outfits and "needs" we spent about another $60, but at least we had the money to pay for most of it and this gives me a number to save for next year.
So, recap. School supplies and first-day-of-school outfits and shoes for two kids came to a grand total of $410. Seriously, when did public school become so expensive? Before my kids have even walked through the door to start school I've paid over $200 per kid!!!! That's crazy!
*I know I could have bought their clothes/shoes second hand to save some money, but remember, we aren't gazelles.
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