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Aug 23, 2023

The rising cost of living is impacting the price of supplies children need for learning.

Meredith Gronli, a mom of three boys from just outside Winnipeg, was back-to-school shopping last week and was shocked by the price of some of the items on her children's class lists.

"Some of the stuff I was able to reuse, because they send gently used pencil cases and things like that home, but I was surprised at how expensive it was," Gronli said.

"I just paid $25 for a two-inch binder, and that feels like a lot of money."

Some schools are increasing fees collected from families to provide supplies to students that schools or teachers buy in bulk. The amount varies from school to school.

The Consumer Price Index shows the cost of school textbooks and supplies rose 2.8 per cent from July 2022 to July 2023.

Jennifer Cox, principal of Faraday School in the Winnipeg School Division, said the cost of supplies prompted the school to increase its fee from $35 to $40 for children in grades one to four. Older students buy their own supplies.

"Everyone knows the cost of living has gone up," Cox said.

"We didn't want to drastically increase it, so we felt for this coming year we'd raise it by $5 and hope that'll be enough to cover the cost of things."

Brian O'Leary, superintendent of Seven Oaks School Division, said inflation means the division-wide fee charged for supplies bought in bulk is also rising $5 to $40 for the year for students in kindergarten to Grade 8.

It's only the second increase in 15 years, O'Leary said.

"It hasn't gone up dramatically, and I anticipate it'll stay at $40 for the next several years."

Supplies provided include pens, pencils, pencil crayons, notebooks, binders and looseleaf paper.

"Anything that a teacher would require," he said.

If parents had to buy supplies on their own, it would cost them around $150, based on pricing out some school supply lists from some other school divisions, he said.

"We buy our school supplies on tender and we pass on the savings to parents," O'Leary said. "Also, teachers manage that supply, so very often we're using every bit of the supplies and reusing stuff from last year."

Alison Ruiter, who was shopping at Walmart on Regent Ave., has to buy supplies for two of her children and estimates it will cost her anywhere from $200 to $300.

"You can kind of price match it a bit and then see if you can get it cheaper," Ruiter said. "I always have a budget for September's back to school. Gotta keep it underneath it."

That may be a bit more manageable for Ruiter, since one of her children graduated last year.

Growing children also need new shoes and clothing, which have also been hit by inflation.

Sarah Puls of Kenora, Ont., searched for bargains at a second-hand shopcalled Once Upon a Child, which buys and sells gently used kids clothes, in Winnipeg's Transcona neighbourhood.

But it meant making the more-than-two hour trip to Winnipeg.

"With the prices of everything going up … we had to put away to come up here and try and get what we can," Puls said.

Her son Cailum is heading into kindergarten and she expects back-to-school shopping, including pants, shirts and winter clothing for her son, will cost her around $600 this year.

The Statistics Canada consumer price index says the cost of children's clothing has remained unchanged over the past year, while the cost of footwear rose 0.9 per cent.

Gronli was also buying second-hand clothes ahead of the first day of classes for her sons in the Sunrise School Division on Sept. 6.

While some garments can be handed down from her 11-year-old to her nine-year-old and six-year-old, clothing worn by three active boys wears out fast — another reason Gronli doesn't buy new.

"It makes sense for me to buy used, in a way, knowing that I'm not putting a lot of money out there if it gets paint on it or if it gets a hole in the knee."

Reporter

Josh Crabb is a reporter with CBC Manitoba. He started reporting in 2005 at CKX-TV in Brandon, Man. After spending three years working in television in Red Deer, Alta., Josh returned to Manitoba in 2010 and has been covering stories across the province and in Winnipeg ever since.