By Nick Mattera
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
For some parents it was the hand sanitizer or wet wipes that bothered them, for others it was the $50 calculator or the high costs at retail stores but overall a majority of last-minute shoppers were unhappy with the extra burden that comes with sending their children back to school.
“It hurts,” said Serena Rivera who was shopping for her two grandchildren Thursday at Walmart on Military Road. “By the time I am done shopping I will have spent at least $200 between the two of them.”
Rivera, whose granddaughter will be a freshman at Niagara Falls High School and grandson attends Niagara Street School, said she has no problems paying for the necessities like folders, notebooks and pencils but did say she takes issue with some of the other “luxury” items.
“Hand sanitizer, wet wipes?” she joked. “What happened to a box of Kleenex?”
Many local districts like Lewiston-Porter and Niagara-Wheatfield were forced to cut back supply costs to combat huge cuts in state aid, which may have translated to teachers requiring families to pick up the difference.
“The stores don’t help us out, $4 for a notebook. Come on now,” Rivera said. “And she needs one for every class.”
Rivera isn’t alone in her discontent.
Jolene Stevens was shopping with her three children, two who attend schools in Tonawanda, another who attends a local Catholic high school, said she will spend around $400 on supply costs alone for her family.
“And that is before we go clothes shopping,” Stevens said. “This is like Christmas time for our family. We spend just as much (on back to school) as we do during the holidays.”
She said her son, who is a junior, is required to have a graphing calculator that she estimates will cost $75 and her daughter needs markers, colored pencils, paint brushes and “fancy” paper for her art classes.
“It’s expected,” she said when asked if she was surprised with the costs. “They come every year, so it’s really no surprise, but it just seems the older they get the more stuff they have to buy.”
A sample list for a Niagara Falls High School student includes a graphing calculator, highlighters, white out, four three-ring binders, index cards, two marble composition notebooks, colored pencils, pens, pencils, loose leaf paper and other items.
State Sen. Antoine Thompson understanding the financial burden back to school may cause on parents in Niagara Falls held his annual school supply giveaway on Saturday at his Niagara Falls District office on Main Street. He gave away many required supplies to students in all grade levels.
“This is always an exciting time of the year, and it’s important that we equip our children with the proper tools for a quality education,” Thompson said in a release.
Many parents, however, do understand that some supplies are the nature of the beast and realize that schools were hit hard with funding cuts.
“We can’t expect the schools to do it all,” said Mary Orr, whose stepdaughter attends LaSalle Preparatory School. “They have computers and those white boards. They give kids a chance to do thing they can’t do at home, spending money on supplies is the last parents can do.”
School supply costs
According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average amount consumers planned to spend for back-to-school supplies jumped from $82.62 last year to $96.39 this year. And for back-to-school electronics, the amount increased from $167.84 last year to $181.61 this year.
