A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A new school year is here, and with that comes the hallowed ritual of parents and teachers buying school supplies. Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma of The Indicator podcast tell us why a free public education in the U.S. does not cover these costs and how one school district is doing things differently.
WAILIN WONG, BYLINE: Rachel Laufer is an assistant superintendent of a public school district in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She used to be the principal of a K-through-8 school in the district. And her school, like many others, would do these meet-the-teacher events before the first day of classes. Families got to tour the classroom and drop off the supplies they had bought.
RACHEL LAUFER: Parents are walking in, and some of them would have to do multiple loads out to their car to go get all the bags.
ADRIAN MA, BYLINE: These parents are bringing in bags and bags of supplies they bought. But then about a decade ago, Rachel's school district changed its policy on school supplies and said that the district would cover the cost for its elementary and middle school students. All Rachel needed to do as principal was place a bulk order for all the crayons and scissors and whatever else her school needed.
WONG: Rachel's district has around 6,000 students covered under this policy. She estimates that the district spends around $200,000 a year on supplies.
MA: The money comes from what are called Title I funds. Those are federal dollars that are distributed often based on how many students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Using this money for school supplies means less money for other programs, but Rachel says it's been a worthwhile trade-off.
LAUFER: Did we have to tighten up on some other things? Yes. But I think each school found different creative ways to absorb that to be able to make this a priority for our families.
WONG: Other districts might want to do something similar, but they can't make the numbers work. That's according to Hilary Wething. She's an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, which is a left-leaning think tank.
HILARY WETHING: There are many instances where public school districts don't have enough funds to cover everything. And so they do things. Like, they have parent drives, fundraisers, supply wish lists or fees in order to provide high-quality education, often in the form of things like school supplies.
MA: Hilary says this chronic underfunding dates back to the Great Recession. The collapse of the housing market meant much lower home prices. That meant less property tax money flowing to public schools.
WONG: Hilary and a colleague published a report last month on U.S. investment in public education. They found that growth in spending has slowed down since 2008. The report also says school choice initiatives in certain states have funneled government money away from public schools to private ones.
MA: Hilary says this underfunding leaves public schools in a tough spot. They still have to maintain their buildings. They have to hire support staff, like guidance counselors and nurses.
WETHING: And so oftentimes when districts have a small pot of money that they have to spread among seven or eight different pockets - right? - that means that supplies, in particular, can get the short straw.
WONG: The vast majority of teachers also pay out of pocket for stuff they need. That's like a de facto pay cut since they're spending money to do their job, and that's on top of a pay disparity that Hilary notes in her report.
On the school supply front, some states have tried tackling the issue through legislation. In Michigan, for example, state law says public schools have to provide supplies. California has a similar law. In practice, however, parents and teachers do still end up buying supplies in many cases.
MA: Adrian Ma.
WONG: Wailin Wong, NPR News.
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