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Co-sign on what alphagam-alum said! I've had kids in the public schools for 17 years now and I've watched the supply list balloon over the years--and then double with the involuntary donation bit. And the fundraisers--well, we don't do them anymore. Too often we've seen kids go out and bust their butts selling cheap trinkets and then the PTA uses it for something stupid like a new couch for the teachers' lounge when the old one was just fine.
Last week a middle school teacher wrote for donations so she could do all these fancy labs in her class. My husband, a science teacher in a parochial middle school,was so mad that he almost choked. He can only dream of the things she wanted.
The double school supplies list still makes me mad. When my children come home with their leftover school supplies at the end of the year, they always have a somewhat used box of crayons that was their first one and they say the teacher never gave them back the second one. Ditto on the second pack of construction paper, box of pencils, etc. This year we only sent one set of supplies and so did a bunch of other parents; in this school, there are very few children in need and the whole idea is ridiculous. We'll see what happens.
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