New School Year Math

"Free" public education has never been less free. Back to school has always been big business, as frantic (and eager) parents snap up lunch boxes, pencils, clothes, shoes, and so on before sending little Johnny or Janie back to the education "experts." A recent survey says spending costs parents with two children in school between $700 and $1,245 during this annual rite of passage.

At my kids' schools, parents are even expected to buy tissues, scissors, gluesticks, etc.-a lot of stuff they provided when I was a student. And we don't live in a poor district. Yet the schools are always crying poor, asking for tax increases to keep the school doors open. Maybe it's the new math, but something doesn't add up.