Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our schools (Eugene, Oregon) have had them on their website all summer, sent us home with a paper copy at the end of last school year, AND at most of the stores in town (Target, Staples, Office Depot, etc.) there is a kiosk with printed out versions of each schools and each grade levels school supply list.
WOAH, huh?
My beef isn't not knowing what school supplies they need, but the fees and extra added costs you have to pay this time of year. High Schoolers, for example, have to pay a $60 parking permit fee if they want to park their car in the school's parking area. The parking area is HUGE and there are always empty spaces. I think for $60 they should have like their name painted in a reserved spot for that whole year or something, with valet service! OK, I joke a bit...
Also - Before we can even get our schedules, we have to pay:
$30 for student body card
$55 if we want a yearbook
$10 for a required P.E. T-Shirt
$10 locker fee
$10 planner fee
$20 technology fee
$15 required mandatory testing fee
$65 for a three month bus pass if your student rides the bus to school
$40 if your student is going to graduate that year
Fees, fees, fees. Ugh! An then of course school starts and all you hear about until winter break are fundraisers, fundraisers, fundraisers... sometimes I feel like all I do is hand over money to my kids schools, yet they are still always too broke to give my kid an adequate education. We still always have to supplement at home for the things the school can't seem to squeeze in. Plus, I volunteer my little bootie off, too. I'll be so glad when the kids have graduated and we're done with this broken system.
Is this even legal? I'm in a low-income district and we are not even allowed to charge for lab fees, art supplies, or workbooks. We even give some students school supplies when their parents can't or won't.
Is this even legal? I'm in a low-income district and we are not even allowed to charge for lab fees, art supplies, or workbooks. We even give some students school supplies when their parents can't or won't.
In my district in Colorado, the above fees are legal. The Free and Reduced Price Lunch students do not have to pay them.
We don't have that many fees but a parking pass is $170.00 for the year. Yes you read that correctly. Lunch pass is $20.00, yearbooks around $100.00. Of course these are all optional. We've split these 50/50 with our kids they have all had part time jobs.
Is this even legal? I'm in a low-income district and we are not even allowed to charge for lab fees, art supplies, or workbooks. We even give some students school supplies when their parents can't or won't.
It depends on where you are. They aren't legal in California, but they are legal in many other states.
We don't have that many fees but a parking pass is $170.00 for the year. Yes you read that correctly. Lunch pass is $20.00, yearbooks around $100.00. Of course these are all optional. We've split these 50/50 with our kids they have all had part time jobs.
What is a lunch pass? Do the students go to lunch with their teachers?
One year when my kids were in ele. school, they had to bring in a ream of copy paper as part of their school supplies. Being the rebel I've always been (!), I questioned the sanity of this, as buying one ream at prime retail (even at Wal Mart) and paying tax on it was wasteful, IMO. If the school was that hard up, they could have taken up a collection and bought it in bulk w/o paying tax. I said so in a letter to the principal. The principal thanked me for my interest, and kids were never asked to buy copy paper again.
Great post!
My kids are ALWAYS asked to bring in a ream of copy paper! And it drives me batty, thinking, the school could buy these in bulk for 1/2 the cost of each parent buying them. Ditto the crayons, pencils, etc.
We "rebelled" ourselves this year and bought the 36 count colored pencils instead of the 24 count because the 36 count was on sale and less expensive than the 24 count. Works for me: more pencils/colors, less money. (I did check with the teacher though).
Of course none of you are harping on what really toasts my buns, and that is spending $100 on school supplies ON TOP of the $11K we pay in tuition. Just add it to the friggin tuition and buy it yourselves already, is what I always think, as I am driving around to 5 stores looking for the exact specified eraser.
Are your lists really so specific that they ask for a brand of eraser? I've never had a teacher complain because we bought the white rubber eraser rather than the pink pearl. That's insane!
Does anyone else reuse supplies from previous years? We do. I keep a big tub in the garage. This year I was even able to trade with a friend - she had things my kids needed and I had things her kids needed so it was a perfect trade. We only had to buy a few things... like tissues and copier paper.
I've had kids in school for a total of 17 years now (altogether) and I've never had a single teacher complain that we reused or recycled school supplies from previous years. I do it to save money, but also I find buying them to be very wasteful. SO much packaging and crap, you know?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OK, I joke a bit...
(I did check with the teacher though).
