The new school year is about to begin, which means that parents are facing an often-resented task: buying the items on their children’s back-to-school supply lists.
The supply lists, compiled by teachers or schools, have become a favorite topic of complaints on social media and parenting podcasts.
“I dread it,” said Rachael Rayes, a speech therapist and mother of two boys in Kenner, La., who wrote about school supply shopping on the New Orleans Mom website. “I hate it more than matching socks.”
Finding all of the requested items can be challenging, Ms. Rayes said — and then there’s the cost. (Inflation had been moderating, but recently ticked back up, adding to the strain on back-to-school budgets.) The National Retail Federation says parents of children in kindergarten through high school are budgeting an average of $144 on supplies for the upcoming school year, including items like notebooks, pens and pencils as well as things like tissue, paper towels and hand sanitizer. That’s not counting spending on clothes, shoes and electronics, which can bring the average cost up to $858.
“If you don’t have kids in school, you have no idea how expensive school supplies are,” said Chris Vehlow, a special-education teacher in Pekin, Ill.
The expense is coming, said Haley Brown-Woods, a former teacher who is now a financial counselor in Windsor, Calif., as “people are definitely feeling more stressed with their finances right now.”
Don’t teachers pay for supplies, too?
Parents may not realize, educators say, that teachers typically pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. Some districts may offer teachers a small stipend for supplies, but if parents don’t help, teachers end up footing more of the bill.
“They can’t run a functioning classroom without the necessities,” Ms. Haley Brown-Woods said.
According to federal statistics for the 2020-21 school year, the most recent available, 95 percent of public schoolteachers spent money on school supplies — $445, on average — that wasn’t reimbursed. (Teachers can get a $300 tax deduction for supplies on their federal tax return.)
“It’s not small potatoes,” said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. (The average starting salary for a public schoolteacher is about $47,000, according to the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers’ union.)
Still, Dr. Ingersoll said, the practice is longstanding. He recalled having to spend his own money on supplies as a high school teacher in the 1980s. The tradition may have grown out of the culture of the U.S. educational system, he said, which holds teachers ultimately responsible for success in the classroom.
Ms. Vehlow recalled a student who kept coming to school without essential supplies and she asked him when he might be able to bring them. “He said, ‘My mom says when we get her next paycheck, we can get the supplies,’” Ms. Vehlow said. She went out and bought the supplies and said most teachers would do the same. “We’re not going to let a simple barrier like that prevent students from learning.”
Jennifer Steele, a professor of education at American University, said it was generally understood in the United States that school districts provided buildings and hired teachers, but the question of who pays for things like classroom supplies is less clear.
“There’s always been a gray area,” she said. Americans are at least fortunate, she said, that they typically don’t have to buy books and uniforms for public school students, as is common in some other countries.
Still, “families are feeling very stretched,” Dr. Steele said. “It seems like a big ask for something that’s supposed to be ‘free.’”
Teachers are also under pressure as schools wrestle with uncertain federal funding. The Trump administration withheld billions in federal education funds, needed in part to recruit and train teachers for the upcoming year, before releasing the money in late July, causing districts to scramble as students start heading back to classrooms. (The school year has already begun for some districts in Southern states.)
What is on a typical school supply list these days?
Lists vary across the country. “The lists are really expensive, and they’ve gotten fancier,” Dr. Steele said. Chalk, once a ubiquitous instructional tool, has been replaced by dry erase boards and markers — and special cleaning wipes.
With technology increasingly used in the classroom, requests for gadgets like wired headsets have become standard. Students use them for drills via laptop computers.
One 2025 list for a New York City elementary classroom totals 30 line items — some quite specific, like a request for one “multipack of super-sticky Post-it Notes (3×3).” A rough total cost of the 16 core classroom supplies alone, based on Amazon pricing, was about $113. Items like paper, tissues, paper towels and plastic storage bags add roughly $83.
The humble glue stick, a staple of primary grades that has replaced messier liquid glue and is often requested in large quantities, is frequently singled out for online derision. Students use them for a variety of activities, from creating journals to science projects, said Dyanne Griffin, a spokeswoman for TeacherLists, a website that assembles supply lists online. “They use them in everything,” she said.
Some parents are skeptical. “Eight!” one incredulous father says in a TikTok video, reading a list in his kitchen. “What is he going to be gluing?” (Teachers say caps for the sticks can go astray, causing them to dry out — hence, the need for extras.)
How can families manage the cost of supplies?
If filling the supply list is straining a household’s budget, families can reach out to teachers or the school to ask if the purchase of some items can be spread out over the year, Ms. Brown-Woods suggested. Basics like pens and paper are needed on the first day, she said, but some items, like tissues or sanitizing wipes, can be taken in later, helping to reduce the amount that must be spent at one time — and freeing up storage space in classrooms.
What about substituting a brand-name item with a generic option? “Crayola’s not cheap,” said Stacey Naughton, a social media strategist near Denver and the mother of two young children. She said she had started shopping around for the best prices, but that can be time consuming even with online comparison tools, and not all families have the time to do that.
Teachers may request certain brands because they have come to trust them over time. But parents should do what works for their budget, Ms. Brown-Woods said. “Some supplies are better than no supplies.”
Ms. Brown-Woods said she worked with clients to help them find ways to shift money at back-to-school time. Families often spend less money on groceries when students return to school because children aren’t eating all their meals and snacks at home. In California, where she works, school breakfasts and lunches are free regardless of income. Those “extra” funds can be redeployed for school supplies, helping to ease the financial stress families feel, she said.
Andrea Woroch, an online budgeting maven, suggested buying one or two outfits for students for the first week of school, then mostly relying on what’s already in the child’s closet. You can buy more clothes later as needed.
“Don’t assume you need a brand-new wardrobe on Day 1,” she said.
For teenagers who want to be up with the latest trend, try searching online for their preferred brands and the word “dupes,” to find less costly knockoffs. And when shopping in stores, check the online price for items before paying. If it’s lower, she said, retailers will often match the price.
Do some states offer back-to-school tax holidays?
More than a dozen states offer tax relief for several days or weeks before the start of the school year by waiving state and sometimes local sales taxes on typical back-to-school items, including supplies, clothing and technology. All but five states charge sales taxes, ranging from about 4 to 7 percent of the purchase. (Some cities and towns add on extra local taxes, pushing the combined rate to nearly 10 percent.) The savings from the tax break can be modest because states limit the amount of the purchase that is eligible. Connecticut, for instance, restricts the tax break to clothes and footwear that cost less than $100 per item.
The popularity of the sales holidays waxes and wanes. New Jersey repealed its event, but others remain committed. Florida, for instance, has an entire tax-free month in August.
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