New Jersey
OPINION: NJ’s school supply crisis: Why parents are left paying for basic classroom needs
3-minute read
With my youngest now a high school senior, it’s been a while since I had to make that early August trip to Staples with a school supply list in hand, hoping to snag those Spider-Man folders. But curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to see what today’s parents are up against.
I pulled up a fifth-grade supply list from a New Jersey school and bought everything on Amazon. The total? $106.70 — just for classroom essentials. That doesn’t include the backpack, school clothes, gym gear or winter wear like hats, gloves and boots. And forget about art supplies, sports equipment or renting a musical instrument.
Families with children in elementary through high school spend an average of $874 to prepare their kids for school.
What’s worse is that some of these items on the list aren’t even for the kids — they’re for the classroom. Disinfectant wipes, dry erase markers, erasers — parents are now expected to cover these, too.
And don’t even get me started on Sharpies — you can’t buy just one; it’s a four-pack or nothing. And really, does my kid actually need 72 Ticonderoga pencils?
This is what public education looks like in New Jersey today — parents are footing the bill for what should be covered by the schools themselves. And let’s not forget that many underpaid teachers already dip into their own pockets to cover other classroom needs.
When I partnered with the Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry as a collection site for their backpack drive, I never expected the flood of calls, emails, and visits it would trigger. For every one person who came to drop off supplies, five or six more showed up asking for help because they simply couldn’t afford what the school required.
And then there were the complaints — angry, baffled parents who couldn’t understand why, in a state that spends nearly $40 billion on education, with an average per-pupil cost of $26,970, they still had to buy basic classroom supplies benefiting all the students.
“Seventy percent of my taxes go to the local school, and they can’t buy a spiral notebook?” they asked, incredulous.
When families are driving 30 minutes to my office because they can’t afford school supplies, it’s clear we’re not dealing with just a lack of funds — we’re dealing with a crisis of misplaced priorities.
But not all hope is lost. Right down the road from my district office on Main Street in Chester, the local school board passed a novel idea: All supplies will be paid for and provided to every student this year, ensuring a “consistent educational experience.”
But to make this work statewide, we need leadership from Trenton. Education budgets are tight because of unfunded mandates, and many districts have suffered serious cuts in state aid. We shouldn’t just ask local taxpayers and parents to keep footing the bill — we need to shift that responsibility to the state.
Why not create a fund within the Department of Education specifically for school supplies? It could be financed by restraining the nearly billion dollars lawmakers add to the budget each year for their pet projects.
This is a commonsense fix that prioritizes students. It could also be a first step to finally fixing the more complicated broken education funding formula, which picks winners and losers among districts.
I remember the embarrassment I felt when I came to school without the supplies I needed. My father, a single dad raising three girls on public assistance, protested the “ridiculous” supply lists by sending us to school without them. I’ll never forget the pit in my stomach and the flush on my face when the teacher said, “Take out your …” and I had nothing to take out.
Those were not so different times, and I want to believe that in New Jersey — a state that prides itself on offering a world-class education for every child — no student will start the school year behind because they don’t have the tools they need.
We need a solution like providing school supplies, even if it means no more Spider-Man folders. It’s a small price to pay to ensure all children start the school year on equal footing.
Aura Dunn has been an assemblywoman since 2019. She represents parts of Morris and Passaic counties in the 25th Legislative District.
Saturday is a Gridlock Alert Day in New York City as France faces Sweden in the FIFA Men’s World Cup in New Jersey.
The game starts at 5 p.m., but major impacts will begin as early as 11 a.m.
Traffic is expected to be impacted in Midtown Manhattan as the city initiates shuttle bus corridors and closes streets around Penn Station for fans going to MetLife Stadium, which FIFA calls New York New Jersey Stadium.
NJ Transit service at Penn Station is reserved for ticketholders for several hours before and after the match to accommodate the crowd. Non-ticketholders will need to take an alternate route.
Here’s what to expect and when the changes are slated to take effect:
Penn Station
NJ Transit service
NJ Transit service at Penn Station New York is limited to ticketholders going to the France-Sweden match from 12:29 p.m. to 4:18 p.m. During that window, riders who are not going to the match should take PATH from 33rd Street to Hoboken or Newark Penn Station for trains to other destinations.
Penn Station New York access will be limited again after the match to accommodate trains bringing fans back from the stadium. NJ Transit says other eastbound trains heading to Manhattan will instead terminate at Newark Penn Station or Newark Broad Street from 7:10 p.m. until about 10:14 p.m.
PATH and NJ Transit bus service will remain available for all other riders.
Street closures
Street closures around Penn Station to accommodate fans lining up for trains to Monday’s match will begin no later than 11 a.m.
Here are the street closures:
- 33rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue
- 32nd Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue
Most streets will reopen soon after each match begins, with 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues reopening three hours after the match concludes, according to the mayor’s office.
Shuttle bus corridor
France-Sweden ticketholders will also be taking shuttle buses to the stadium from three pick-up locations in Midtown.
NYC established special shuttle bus corridors to accommodate the buses, meaning additional streets and lanes will be closed to regular traffic from 11 a.m. to up to three hours after the match ends:
- 42nd Street from First Avenue to 12th Avenue.
- Two lanes along Sixth Avenue from 42nd Street to 59th Street.
- Two lanes along Fifth Avenue from 42nd Street to 59th Street.
- West 40th Street between Eighth Avenue and 11th Avenue.
- West 41st Street between Eighth Avenue and 10th Avenue.
Truck deliveries
There will be restrictions on truck deliveries in Midtown from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. between 30th Street and 60th Street.
Smaller delivery vehicles, including cars, vans and bikes, are exempt, the mayor’s office said.
“Emergency vehicles, service vehicles and essential delivery providers operating within the zone are also exempt,” the announcement said.
Click here to see the full Midtown Transportation Plan.
The anticipated pain of a massive property tax increase in Jersey City has been alleviated somewhat.
Mayor James Solomon announced on Monday a proposed 20% increase has been reduced to a 15% after the city secured $120 million in state aid earlier in the day.
“Solving a deficit this size was never going to be easy”
The tax increase is necessary because the city is facing a $255 million budget deficit, Solomon said.
“Fifteen percent is better than 20, but I cannot tell you this solves our problem without consequences,” Solomon said in a statement. “We know how difficult these increases are, and in combination with the historic amount of state aid we secured in Trenton, my team went back and cut even more city spending. Solving a deficit this size was never going to be easy, and the Administration and City Council must make hard decisions in the coming weeks and months to make the budgets for 2026 and 2027 work without further large tax increases.”
Solomon, who was elected last fall, has blamed the budget deficit on his predecessor, Steven Fulop. The former mayor, who decided not to run again after serving more than 12 years, has vehemently pushed back against the assertion that he left the finances in disarray.
The proposed 15% increase will be submitted to the City Council on July 15 for its approval.
Residents left in constant state of dread over expected tax increase
Prior to receiving the state aid, Jersey City attempted to take some of the onus off of its residents by enacting some cuts, including daily maintenance at seven parks and eliminating its composting program, saving about $1 million per year.
Obviously, that’s not nearly enough to eliminate the need for a property tax hike, so Solomon had been preparing city residents for more than a week about the likelihood that they were going to have to ante up significantly more. He held a meeting on Sunday that was attended by about 150 residents, who expressed fear and dismay over the city’s dire financial situation.
“It means maybe losing my home,” one resident said. “I’m tired of this. This is happening everywhere and it’s not fair that there’s so many boots on our necks and that people just can’t get ahead right now.”
And even with the aid from Trenton and a 15% property tax hike, the city is going to have to figure out how to generate another $20 million, Solomon said, so more cuts are coming.
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