[PhoenixAzul]

Yikes, what a hornet's nest.

I went to Pittsburgh Public School for every single grade. And strangely, I can't remember ever getting a "list" persay. We always knew to get the basics. But it seemed like we got a lot of stuff reused or community...meaning there were scissors in the classroom, calculators were assigned to each kid by number (and if you lost/broke it, you paid for it), pencils could be borrowed from classmates or bought from teachers (this was rather common...either that or you "rented" it for the class at 10 cents, which you got back when said pencil was returned). Our arts and theatre were essentially student funded through special community performances and selling advertisements in programmes. It wasn't affluent, it wasn't comfortable, but I'm educated and it worked for many others like me.

And for you Columbus teachers:

There is a project with Keep Franklin County Beautiful called the Resale Store, or something similar. Basically, they have this huge warehouse with just really random, leftover office supplies in an effort to be environmentally and socially friendly/aware. Left over promotional pencils, left over stacks of paper from close companies, left over pens from drug companies, paint, etc etc etc. I don't know if they still give it free, or if the fee is nominal, but it is something to check out.

ETA: If I remember correctly, our DECA (marketing/business club) team set up a "school store" with help from the PTA. They ordered supplies and what have you as well as tshirts and other little nicknacks, and the DECA kids ran the store as a project/business model. Seems like win-win to me. Maybe not as a DECA group, but perhaps Student Government or NHS.