Arlington, Va. – According to the latest “backpack index” released by Huntington Bank today, the cost of equipping K-12 public school students for the 2014-2015 school year has jumped as much as 20 percent, one of the largest year-over-year increases in the eight-year history of the Index. This report follows findings of the National Retail Federation’s annual survey, released last week, which found that total spending on back-to-school items is expected to reach $74.9 billion this year—up about 3 percent from $72.5 billion in 2013.

This new information means increasing difficulties for low-income families to start the new school year off right according to Communities In Schools (���ϲ�����), the nation’s largest organization dedicated to keeping kids in school. The nonprofit operates on the front lines of the fight against poverty in classrooms.

“Every day, a disproportionate number of low-income students find it difficult to come to school prepared to learn while they struggle with the effects of poverty,” said Dan Cardinali, president of Communities In Schools. “Especially these days as schools become more wired, and kids are required to come to school with smartphones and tablets instead of just crayons and a pencil box, it’s increasingly challenging to afford supplies. ���ϲ����� starts every school year off with supply drives so that students don’t start out behind on the first day.”

Communities In Schools’ affiliate in Nevada is hoping to collect supplies from Walmart and Sam’s Clubs for 2,200 students, for example. In Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, ���ϲ����� affiliates are putting school buses in front of Walmart and other stores with volunteers who hand out wish lists at the door and collect donations from customers. Other affiliates conducting “Stuff the Bus” and other school supply drives include ���ϲ����� affiliates from Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico and Washington.

According to the Huntington Backpack Index, parents can expect to pay:

• $642 for elementary school children, an 11 percent increase compared to 2013
• $918 for middle school children, a 20 percent jump compared to 2013
• $1,284 for high school students, a 5 percent increase compared to 2013

“It has become irrefutably clear that poor students lag well behind their more affluent counterparts, even when the educational basics appear to be the same,” said Cardinali. “We need to level the playing field and make sure that students get what they need to succeed, including school supplies, food, clothing, health and dental care, and other services such as counseling and academic assistance.”

Communities In Schools also offers the following tips to parents to offset the cost of school supplies:

• Reuse folders, backpacks and other items from previous school years
• Organize a swap with neighbors of new or gently used school supplies
• See if donations are available from your school or local community organizations
• Take advantage of your state’s tax-free weekend to buy school supplies
• Shop around and compare prices on goods at different retailers

Every 26 seconds, a young person in America drops out of school, resulting in a staggering 1.2 million student dropouts each year. Individuals who do not finish high school earn nearly $1 million less over a lifetime than college graduates. Each year’s dropouts will cost the nation billions in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes. Much of this can be avoided through proven dropout prevention programs like ���ϲ�����.

Learn more about the Huntington Annual Backpack Index , and more about the National Retail Federation’s annual survey .

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It’s that time again, and in it’s 5th year, Stuff the Bus campaign is at full throttle. Stuff the Bus is a school supply campaign that gives any and all items donated through collection drives to schools serving the lowest income students in Seattle.

Communities In Schools of Seattle kicked off 2010‘s Stuff the Bus campaign at this year’s Pride Parade on June 27th. Backed by the beats of “High School Musical,” 18 volunteers danced the highly decorated–and yet still very stuff-able–school bus down the parade streets. The energy was high, colors were flying, and the voices were loud, all with the intent of drilling up excitement about this year’s Stuff the Bus campaign.

Behind the rainbow colors and street dancing sits an important community-wide need that Stuff the Bus fills. Proper school supplies are a crucial element in a student’s learning process, and today families spend $60-100 per child to get them ready for the first day of school. This can be a serious hardship for families throughout the Seattle area, where about 40% of the district’s 45,000+ students live in poverty. Add in the $1000 that an average elementary school teacher spends out of pocket to provide supplies for his or her students, and the need for campaigns such as Stuff the Bus quickly becomes apparent.

Want to help Stuff the Bus? You can become a Community Partner and hold a school supply drive at your business, organization, sports club, church, etc. You can also become a volunteer at any of Stuff the Bus’s functions. Visit the for more information.

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A few weeks ago, Communities in Schools of Seattle turned a school bus donated by First Student into a parade float joining dozens of other community organizations, marching bands, and lively entertainment at the Pride Parade.  The float was created to promote our 2009 Stuff the Bus school supply campaign.

It was a great way to show that ���ϲ�����S supports all students and the diversity of our families.  Due to the growing needs of Seattle Public Schools, we also wanted the community at large to know about our campaign.  Many families are unable to provide their children with the supplies they need to be prepared to learn once school starts.  Participation in a parade is a fun way for the community to learn about our mission and ways they can support Seattle’s students.

There are a few more opportunities to check out our float.  We will also be at the West Seattle Hi Yu Parade this Saturday July 18^th with the HiJax and Unicycle teams from Pathfinder K-8.  We have also been invited to participate in the SeaFair Torch Light Parade next Saturday July 25^th 2009.

Where exactly will we be “stuffing the bus”?  We will collect school supplies outside Qwest Events Center during the Seahawks vs. Oakland on September 3^rd.  We invite you to bring backpacks and school supplies to the game, helping us “Stuff the Bus”.  During the months of July and August you can also donate at any BECU location, Northgate Mall and South Center Mall as well as the Starbucks Center.  If your business is interested in being a collection site or to learn more about this campaign please visit

Links:

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