The Stuff You Don’t Think Of
By Albert B. Kelly
Sometimes in life, it’s the stuff you don’t think that can hold
you down. Maybe that’s because we focus on the really big things and we don’t
give much thought to the little things- or we just assume it will all just take
care of itself.
It’s sort of what happened when I thought ahead to the start
of the new school year and the students heading back for the 2016-2017 academic
year.
The “big thing” I got focused on was the new school funding
formula coming out of the State House- the one that would basically put Bridgeton,
and many other resource poor school districts, in a multi-million hole.
So in thinking about the impacts of such funding deficit, I
overlooked the little stuff like what it takes for parents, or a single parent,
to get their youngsters equipped for the new school year.
You don’t often think about “back to school” costs until you
start pricing the stuff. We’re talking electronics, clothes, backpacks, pens,
assorted school supplies; and that doesn’t even begin to address the fees if
your child wants to join the band and needs an instrument.
In skimming through a recent piece by Rachel Abrams in the
NY Times entitled “A back-to-school divide”, it highlighted the way retailers
are working the opposite ends of the income gap.
In its own way, something as simple as
“back-to-school-supplies” and the income divide became emblematic of the bigger
issues around education inequality and this new funding proposal that would
enshrine it into law.
According to the piece, parents can expect to pay, on
average, just over $670 on electronics, clothes, and notebooks heading into the
2016-2017 academic year- grades 12 and under.
When you add it all up, it amounts to a $27 billion a year
industry and retailers count on it as much as they count on the holidays.
That doesn’t necessarily cover 4 dozen pencils, multiple
boxes of crayons, sharpies, hand sanitizer, tissues, folders, glue sticks and
goodness knows what else.
For those of us of a certain age, back to school meant some
new socks, maybe some shoes, and some clothes; along with a three-ring binder
and a few pens and pencils- we were all set. As I recall, crayons, paper, and
other supplies were provided by the school.
Not so much these days. Once you get past these basics,
students today do so much digitally and electronically that somewhere along the
line, you just know it has to involve electronic, digital or mobile devices.
What happens if the funding gets stripped to the bone and
schools can’t provide any of these devices? It will be the poorer districts,
especially those with students of color, who will be the most impacted and these
youngsters will pay the heaviest price
When I think about Bridgeton, and I’m reminded that over 90%
of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, I have to wonder what kind of
bite a “back-to-school” bill that could run into the hundreds might do to a an
already strained household budget.
Wealthier families in well-funded districts where $500
Versace backpacks are in play don’t have to worry so much about what it takes
to allow their children to succeed. They can afford what they need.
And while I don’t begrudge anyone Versace if they can afford
it, why impose a funding formula that would decimate the resource-poor district
when parents having a tough time affording the basics on the “back-to-school”
list?
These are just the basics, so we’re not talking about
additional costs that get passed on to parents for those things that are
considered “extracurricular” such as music or sports.
There are examples of districts in NJ with ‘activities fees”
that run into the hundreds; whether for sports, Honor Society, student
government, band, or various clubs- basically “pay-to-play” fees.
The bottom line is that everything; from “back-to-school”
supplies, to activities fees, to this new funding proposal from Trenton-
basically means the gap is getting wider between haves and the have-nots.
If you doubt that, you might want to check out a report
entitled “Misspent Money: How Inequities in Athletic Funding in New Jersey
Public Schools May Be the Key to Underperformance” by Cassie Merkel.
This 2013 report puts the issue in perspective and my basic
take-away is that a lot of students around the state are being pushed out to
the margins in multiple ways and as typified by the ever-growing
“back-to-school” list.