Doing the math

It takes a village to stock classrooms and get students ready for a new school year.

For merchants, back-to-school shopping is the second most significant time of the year - second only to winter's holiday rush.

Consumer spending for back-to-school will jump 5 percent this year, according to a National Retail Federation survey, with each K-12 student carrying an average cost of $670. New emphasis is also being placed on the purchasing power of the Millennial generation, or students themselves, who are expected to spend an additional $100 of their own money to buy wanted items not already on their parents' school supply lists. Finally, K-12 teachers also will be shopping for deals to help round out classroom supplies. On average, teachers are expected to spend $34 on supplies per class.

Add up all the shopping carts around the nation and the final price tag for 2014 back-to-school shopping is estimated at $74.9 billion. This includes all the items we traditionally associate with back-to-school - backpacks, pencils, paper, lunchboxes, new shoes - and a few items previous generations were not obligated to supply - such as flash drives and headphones.

Then there are school registration fees, ranging here in The Corridor from a minimum of $20 for elementary students to $125 for high school students. The fees have become a large enough burden that many districts allow payment plans.

It doesn't end at registration: Parents are tapped throughout the year for field trips, school photographs, vaccinations, required reading materials, parking permits, uniform fees, physician physicals and activity tickets. Parents have proved time and again that they will dig deep to provide their children with the most well-rounded educational background they can afford. But what of those Iowa families who struggle to make ends meet?

For them, the back-to-school season is one fraught with tough choices and assisted by a patchwork of relief efforts: state waivers on registration fees; charitable donations of supplies; occasional scholarships for activities and events.

Big price tag

The Gazette's survey of school supply lists from districts throughout the Corridor showed several common denominators. Elementary school students, for instance, were nearly all required to bring certain supplies - a ruler, scissors, pencils, paper - and something to carry items back and forth - a backpack or some other tote bag. The price tag for this list of items generally common to all elementary school students is just over $100.

We performed the same analysis for middle and high school students, and their most common supply lists ring up at roughly $165 and $125, respectively.

Students in the Corridor are also required to pay registration or consumable fees by the districts, unless the family meets income eligibility guidelines for free and reduced-price meals. Elementary school student fees run an average of $43 across the Corridor. Middle school student fees average $55, and high school fees average $73.

But the costs don't stop there. For each grade level we compiled a list of optional supply items that either weren't common to most districts or were labeled by the districts as optional purchases. Such additions range from lanyards for student identification badges to parking permits, from toothbrushes to Advance Placement testing fees. At the elementary level, optional purchases like these hold a relatively small price point of about $30 per student. By the time a student reaches middle school, optional purchases have blossomed to $146. If parents of high school students go full-bore with ACT/SAT prep books, AP classes, and scientific calculators, optional purchases swell to nearly $400.

While some required supplies can be purchased in smaller quantities than what the districts mandate on their lists - for instance, purchasing only two instead of the mandated six glue sticks for the first day of school with the intention of purchasing the difference later in the school year - analysis shows that even before most extracurricular fees, non-required electronics and new clothing are added to the mix, getting students through the schoolhouse doors is an expensive proposition for parents and caregivers.

Equal access

Parents want their children, tweens and teens to have the experience of school dances, the memories of sharing photographs and the educational boost of classroom trips or extracurricular activities. And while some may dismiss such wants as childhood indulgences, such experiences have become important pieces of the higher education application process.

As the Harvard College of Admissions and Financial Aid asks in its advice to parents and students preparing an application, 'In terms of extracurricular, athletic, community or family commitments, have you taken full advantage of opportunities?”

Institutions of higher learning want to see students who have challenged themselves academically through honors and Advanced Placement classes, obtained solid standardized testing scores, participated with passion in extracurricular activities, and accepted leadership roles. Records of community volunteerism and out-of-school experiences also help students to stand apart during college admissions.

Students unable to fully participate in such experiences during their K-12 years may winnow future opportunities.

Helping hands

A number of organizations within the community are working to ease parents' back-to-school burden. Most programs strive to reach the most vulnerable students in each district, requiring that families fall into certain income guidelines to receive assistance, or link their help to the specific circumstance of the student.

For instance, Families Helping Families of Iowa, an organization typically known for its foster child clothing closet, provides back-to-school assistance for students who are in foster care or have been adopted out of the program. Last year the organization partnered with several local businesses to provide fully stocked backpacks, vouchers for a free haircut and $50 toward new shoes for more than 265 children. Throughout the years, more than 2,500 students have been helped by the program.

The Consultation of Religious Communities of Iowa City works on the ToGather Together program, which distributes free school supplies to roughly 3,000 students in the area. Financial donations are solicited and roughly $12,000 in bulk supplies are purchased. The organization will be sorting and packing the supplies on Monday and anticipate delivering them to schools on Tuesday morning.

Yet even these collaborative organizers understand need outpaces their ability. Enrollment in Iowa City schools alone is roughly 12,500 students.

A Marion faith-based organization, Marion Cares, which aims to provide moral guidance while encouraging educational pursuits as a way to combat poverty and crime, provided 416 students in the Linn-Mar and Marion Independent School districts with backpacks and supplies.

The Back To School Bash & Expo, held Saturday at the McGrath Amphitheatre in Cedar Rapids, invited participants to purchase a $5 admission ticket in exchange for a backpack of supplies and a meal in a carnivallike atmosphere, complete with face painting and a bounce house.

Another Cedar Rapids coalition comprised of the H.D. Youth Center, Olivet Neighborhood Mission, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Northwest Neighbors Neighborhood Association and the Freedom Festival will provide school supplies on Aug. 16 between 8 and 10 a.m. at the Salvation Army. Parents can register the day of the event and should bring photo identification.

Bottom line

Education, even public education, is expensive. Each year about 50 percent of the state's general fund is devoted to public schools, community colleges and universities. A portion of property taxes are earmarked for local schools. As a state and as communities Iowans have adopted a stance of education being important; that we believe each child should have at least a basic understanding of how the world works.

Implicit in that commitment is our understanding that commerce flourishes when there is access to an educated workforce; people with more options are less likely to turn to crime; and quality public schools benefit all facets of a community including individual property values.

With a specific nod to the expense of back-to-school shopping, state leaders implemented the popular Sales Tax Holiday, diverting an estimated $4 million from state coffers. But as funding shifts and blurs for school districts and a higher cost burden is placed on the shoulders of parents, it is time to reconsider if this program aligns with our overriding stance that education is important.

Government has acknowledged through the free and reduced-price meal program that some Iowa families need a helping hand. Community groups have organized around similar guidelines to provide needed relief on the expense of school supplies, haircuts and clothing.

While back-to-school shopping bites into all family budgets, the Iowa system, however well intentioned, has resulted in inequities that can narrow the future prospects of our youth.

Affluent families can more easily absorb the added expenses. Families at the lower end of the income spectrum have opportunities to waive fees or apply for assistance. Stuck in the middle, with no relief in sight, are middle class families whose budgets allow little wiggle room.

While some parents may view skipping a meal each day to fund their child's registration or extracurricular activities as a point of pride, lawmakers should be embarrassed or at least concerned that parents need shun such 'luxuries.”

The commitment to K-12 education needs to be renewed in Des Moines. There are many options for improvement, including:

' Placing allowable growth back on its previous track, which allowed districts to better plan their budgets.

' Evaluating effectiveness of the Sales Tax Holiday and perhaps replacing it in favor of making some items tax-free throughout the year, or developing a process in which all or a portion of taxes are funneled directly to public schools.

' Just as teachers should not be required to purchase supplies for an entire classroom, parents should not be required to provide supplies for an entire facility or district. School budgets, like corporate budgets throughout the state, should contain line items to fund basic supply closets.

' Finally, lawmakers should revisit the public school costs and fee structures to determine if they result in student inequities.

' Comments: (319) 398-8262 or editorial@thegazette.com