Hidden Costs Of Back-To-School Shopping

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Many parents are stocking up on back-to-school supplies for their kids.

But many schools are asking students to bring more than just a backpack and notebooks these days.

As CBS2's Meg Baker reported, in addition to buying pencils and notebooks, some school supply lists now include garbage bags and paper towels.

Shopping for school supplies has become an annual tradition for Shacora Wright. Her son Nicholas starts fourth grade in just a few weeks.

"They would request hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes," she said.

This year, some school supply lists include Kleenex, hand soap, Clorox wipes, baby wipes, paper towels, Ziploc bags, trash bags, and hand sanitizer, Baker reported.

According to the National Retail Federation, spending on back-to-school supplies has grown on average 42 percent since 2005.

"It is a lot," said Wright.

Parents pay an average of about $580 per year for a child in elementary school, Baker reported.

"I'm not frustrated over pencils, of course he needs pencils, he needs folders, things that make sense," said Wright.

"What we saw in the last decade, especially the last five or six years, are some very large cuts to education budgets. And what schools have been doing is cutting back on everything they possibly can. Someone's got to take care of that," said Michael Griffith, school finance policy expert.

And it's not just parents. One study shows elementary and high school teachers spend an annual average of about $500 out-of-pocket on supplies.

In a statement, the American Federation of Teachers said "Teachers have taken it upon themselves to do everything in their power to help their kids, including digging deep into their pockets for supplies. It's time that teachers get the tools they need."

But until school budgets increase, the school supplies list may just get longer and longer for parents, Baker reported.

Nearly three-quarters of parents will make trade-offs in order to afford back-to-school expenses and of those, more than half of parents will cut down on dining out.