Back to school lists: Glue, scissors … toilet paper?
August 27, 2010 by Shane BorerPosted in: Drama, Special Report
Back-to-school time is bittersweet for most parents. Although they’re happy to get kids back into the school after long summers of relaxation, the list of supplies students have to bring in on their first day can take a major bite out of the family budget.
While items like pencils, paper and erasers will show up on the list every year, most public schools are greatly expanding their lists because of budget problems and staff cutbacks. In addition to the regular purchases, many parents will have to shell out for paper towels, disinfectants, toilet paper and hand sanitizer, among other items.
And retailers are capitalizing on those lists wherever they can. For most stores, the back-to-school season ranks second behind the holidays, and is a major boost to annual revenue.
Back-to-school aisles used to hold typical supplies, backpacks and lunch bags — but shoppers are likely to see bulk packs of cleaning supplies and other materials sitting right next to the school-related ones.
For many schools, it’s the only option they have, short of asking teachers themselves to purchase all of their students’ supplies. With most teachers starting at a salary of around $32,500, finances are already tight enough.
Tags: Back-to-school, Students, Supplies, Teachers
August 30th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
I bet that really hurts the pocketbook of my next door neighbor – they have 5 kids in school. But I’ll keep paying school taxes so they can all learn to count the change from the supplies they have to buy.
And where is the starting pay for a teacher $32,500? I bet it’s not New York.
August 30th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Most school districts could greatly benefit from getting rid of an administrator or two (or three or four) and using that money to better equip their classrooms.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Having spent 16 years as a middle school teacher, I can tell you some of those items are not required, but rather suggested items for helping out. We used to ask for kleenex tissues. Out of 130-135 students, 32 in my homeroom, a very small percentage ever brought any, but of course they all expected to fined them in the room. I always provided more through the course of the school year than my students did.
Considering the cost of Play Stations, Wii’s, cell phones for children, and other things I would not agree that schools supplies are not a huge dent in the budget unless you have a large family. For the average sized American family it should be manageable. Of course the key is a little planning ahead, and spreading out the costs when possible. I would also hazard a guess that the biggest part of the back-to-school budget is devoted to new clothes. Now there is a back-to-school issue to address!
PO’d HR Guy: I believe the starting salary for a teacher in NYC is around $58,000. Considering the local cost of living I would imagine it is considered low.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I would think that a teacher of 16 years would know that “fined” is not the way to spell “find”.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:11 am
Dave, if you will look the punctuation is not correct. Run on sentence’s Kleenex I believe should have been capped. Even a Jr high student knows how to write in word and have it check for spelling and grammar. Then use judgment on what it is saying.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Seriously Dave? You don’t share a viewpoint on the topic but take the time to point out a typo. Guess what Mr. Perfect? Teachers make typos and I’m sure you do too. You must be one miserable individual.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Oh please Dave and Greg; give us a break. The subject was bringing excessive supplies to school on behalf of the budget; not a critique of one’s grammar and punctuation. Perhaps two things should be considered: (1) homeschooling or (2) not being offended with the teacher’s comment that students expect supplies in the classroom that parents are unwilling to buy.
The system is broken if teacher’s must buy their own supplies because of budget cuts or parent’s lack of sympathy.
September 1st, 2010 at 1:35 pm
If society placed as much value on education as it does on entertainment, this would not be an issue. Kids would dream of growing up to be a teacher, good teachers would be rolling in dough and all of our schools would be state of the art, turning out children who were as smart as they could possibly be.
Then everyone would speak properly and write with perfect spelling and grammar and we’d have less to complain about online.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Christine, actually I am a pretty happy-go-lucky guy. My wife is a teacher and I do believe it is wrong that they would have to pay for basic classroom materials. I do however, get upset when I am overburdened with taxes to pay for inadequate teachers. I would gladly pull my kids from our public school if I could afford it. Unfortunately, too much of my money goes to a bloated administration and overpaid incompetent tenured teachers who have received pensions for life. Our district recently gave the teachers a 17% pay hike over the next three years and the teachers complained that it was not enough.
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