School supply costs stacking up for some Island parents

With back-to-school right around the corner, some parents are upset over thecost of buying everything on their school's required shopping lists.

Many schools across Prince Edward Edward provide parents with specific school supply shopping lists, and for Jerica Devos, who lives in Cornwall, the cost of making those purchasesare adding up.

Devos has already spent $70 on school suppliesfor her oldest son, 6-year-old Jacewho is set to start Grade 1 in the fall. She's been shopping according to the list provided by her son's school, Westwood Primary School.

"I've noticed it has gotten quite expensive more than we have anticipated," said the mother of three.

'It should be consistent across the board'

Some schools, like Westwood, ask parents and guardians to purchase items off of a school supply list.Other schoolschoose to purchase supplies on behalf of parents, and instead ask for a fee of up to $40.

"I don't think it's fair that we have to spend more than other schools just because of the school my child goes to," said Devos.

"I want him to have the best, obviously,but I think it should be consistent across the board," she said."I just don't think it's fair that we have to pay more than somebody else."

Specific requests from schools

The list provided by Westwood makes specific requests like asking guardians to purchase blunt-tip scissors that are of the Fiskars or Klean Cut brand. Duo-tangs requested need to be specific colours: green, blue and red.

Devossaid that if she's asked to purchase her own supplies, she should thenhave the opportunity to buy whatever she'd like to, without having to mind the brand or colours requested.

Provincial guidelines

P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch does haveuniversalguidelines for school supply lists from kindergarten to intermediate grades across the province, but individual schools have the freedom to adjust the lists according to their school community.

"It's a lot determined by school culture," explainedParker Grimmer, the director of the Public SchoolsBranch.

The master school supply list provided by the branch acts as a template for schools across the province.Schools may remove items from the branch's master list, they can add amounts, colours and brands to each item, but they cannot add items to the list.

Some schools do not ask parents to buy their own supplies, but instead ask for a flat free from the parents.

According to the PSB's guidelines, when schools buy the supplies and ask for a flat fee from parents, that fee cannot exceed $40, and parents do have the right to opt out of the flat fee and to instead purchase their own supply items.

However, for parents whose children attend a school without a flat fee option, there's no option for a parent to volunteer to pay a flat fee instead of purchasing their own supplies. Devosthinks parents should have that option.

Feedback is welcome

"It's great to get feedback from people if there's a feeling that there should be a flat fee," said Grimmer.

"Most often we hear from people that don't want to become part of a school fee structure, but we don't hear a lot of comments back from people that want to be a part of it necessarily."

Grimmer encourages parents to reach out to their school's principal or the branch itself if they have any concerns about school supplies

"We're always interested in knowing how these things are going we're easily reached and we're interested to reply," he said.

"I think it's timely that we have this question coming today in August before school starts, and it may motivate us to find a process to review and reflect."

Devos said that she does plan on reaching out to her son's schooland the Public School Branchto express her concerns.

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