Parents Opening Up Wallets For Required Back-To-School Supplies

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The costs are mounting up as parents open their wallets for required back-to-school supplies for their children.

CBS2's Lou Young reported parents are gathering up items on lists schools send out every summer and it's an expense to budget for. One mom racked up a $116 bill by filling out the list for an eighth grader.

Many lists include items that aren't unique to education, including cleaning supplies.

Futterman's Stationary in Larchmont has pre-assembled packages ready for parents.

"I make 18-hundred boxes every year," said store owner Hitesh Patel.

Required back-to-school supplies has been a heavy burden on poor families that some programs try to address.

At Hope Community Services in New Rochelle, they've assembled the basics in backpacks set to be given out this weekend.

"Everybody who gets a free lunch gets an application," said Benito Ceja of Hope Community Services. "We target the free-lunch kids."

The organization has 1,000 backpacks filled with donated goods.

Teachers also have their own expenses as they look for materials to make lessons interesting. New York City opened a warehouse to public school teachers through a program called Materials for the Arts.

"Last year, we had a little over 1 million pounds of stuff, valued at about $8 million," said Harriet Taub of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

They have boxes of balls and bags of kindergarten-sized clogs for students for teachers who think outside the box.

"I teach 10th, 11th, and 12th grade and a lot of the materials I find here deeply influence what our programs are going to be," said teacher Gary Osborne.