A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Parents are shopping for school supplies extra early this year to get ahead of President Trump's tariffs. Now, that's according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. For many parents, back-to-school costs are already too high. I spoke with Kia Baker and Melvin Bond about that. They both work in Baltimore City public schools.
KIA BAKER: Book bags are really one of the highest-costing items right now. Stores now are trying to utilize different maybe cartoon characters, and they want to appease their children and things like that. So book bags might be, like, $20 for one now. So it's really challenging.
MARTÍNEZ: Melvin, 30 years ago, I was a teacher's assistant. I wasn't making much money. But I felt bad because a lot of kids didn't have basic stuff like pencils and pens and markers, so I'd sometimes buy the stuff myself. That was 30 years ago. How much of the burden is still falling on teachers to pay for things out of pocket?
MELVIN BOND: It's kind of like one of them unwritten rules or them unwritten codes - that I'ma do everything I can to make sure my children have what they need. And I would say that sacrifice that teachers and educators, even when you were doing it back then - it is still very much so embodied today by someone who's in that role, including myself. Like, you want to be able to provide so that they can have. And that's not uncommon for an educator to be in that paradigm.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So let's talk about solutions, though. Who do you think needs to be helping out more to solve this problem, or at least help out a little bit? Kia, let's start with you on that.
BAKER: So as a community, I think we all have to just pitch in. Churches are pitching in to do back-to-school drives because everyone is struggling. Even the working parents are struggling right now. So unfortunately, we can't just say it falls on the parents because everyone is having a hard time. So we all just have to do what we can. The smallest things count.
MARTÍNEZ: Melvin, what about you? What solutions do you see or hope for?
BOND: Man, I agree with Kia. I really think that we have to come from the inside out. I think it takes a village. I think I'm reminded of when we were in the pandemic, right? When everybody went into the pandemic, everybody was in it together - the grocery stores, the churches, the movie theaters, the malls, you know? And then I think schools should be able to receive some type of support with being able to help families either replace uniforms or even, like, recycle uniforms. 'Cause sometimes kids graduate and move on to the next school, and sometimes families donate uniforms back so the school is able to also be a resource, as well. But it definitely takes a village.
MARTÍNEZ: We're in the United States of America - arguably, the wealthiest nation in the entire world. Why do you think we're having this conversation about just affording and having access to some of the basic things, you would think, for kids to learn and do well in school?
BAKER: It's greed. Unfortunately, constantly, we hear during legislative hearings the advocacy for education. Why do we have to advocate for education every single year? You know, it's simple. It is something that we should prioritize as a country, and we do not. We don't prioritize education. We don't prioritize making sure that children all across the world have the necessities as far as health care that they just need. And until, as a nation, everyone comes to understand that, it's going to be a consistent battle. But for those of us that do know and that do understand, we just have to step up. We can't wait for everybody else to catch on and care.
MARTÍNEZ: Kia Baker is a school social worker in Baltimore City Public Schools. Melvin Bond is dean of students at Bard High School Early College Baltimore. Kia, Melvin, thank you.
BAKER: Thank you.
BOND: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHUCK BERRY SONG, "SCHOOL DAYS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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