According to the National Retail Federation, parents will spend $26.5 billion on K-12 back-to-school necessities this year. That’s an average $669.28 per child, up 5 percent from last year’s $634.78. Elementary school kids cost the least, with high school kids nearing the top of the estimates. Here’s how the budget breaks down.
School supplies: $101.18 (includes backpack and calculator costs; 2014 classroom school-supply lists contained an average of 18 items each)
Clothes: $231.30
Shoes: $124.46
Electronics: $212.35-$229.88 (mainly for high school students)
Parents aren’t the only ones footing their kids’ school-supply bill. The Education Market Association reports that last school year, public school teachers spent $1.6 billion of their own money — $485 per individual teacher — to augment their classroom coffers as follows.
Supplies: $149
Instructional materials: $198
“Other” classroom materials: $138 (includes tissues and hand sanitizer)
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