Financial support for schools supplies should be doubled, says Quebec Solidaire

With Quebec families facing a significant increase in the cost of school supplies, Québec solidaire (QS) is asking the Legault government to double the amount of the Supplement for the Purchase of School Supplies.

"What parents are telling me is that the $115 per child they received last July is not at all enough to buy all the school supplies on their children's list," said Mercier MNA and QS education representative Ruba Ghazal in a press release.

On Tuesday morning, she pointed out that the price of school supplies has risen "by nearly 25 per cent in recent years, but government assistance has not kept pace."

More and more families are forced to turn to community organizations to help them fill their school bags.

As a result, "this 2023 back-to-school season is on track to be the most expensive in history," said Ghazal, who is calling on Quebec to send families another cheque for $115 per child in September.

This expenditure would represent $126.5 million, given that 1.1 million children are eligible for the measure.

"Not increasing assistance to families in the midst of an inflation crisis means condemning them to poverty in order to send their children to school. That's not what we want for Quebec, where education seems to be less and less free," Ghazal said.

The Supplement for the Purchase of School Supplies is sent automatically in July to all households receiving the Family Allowance with at least one dependent child between four and 16, regardless of their family income. The amount is indexed each year.

In the case of shared custody, the amount is divided equally between the two parents.

In August 2022, a Hellosafe survey of 404 respondents indicated that 73 per cent of parents felt that the $108 school supplies supplement was insufficient.

The average budget spent per child on back-to-school equipment was $171.10.

According to the same survey, 42 per cent of households planned to reuse certain school supplies, and 35.2 per cent to buy second-hand in an attempt to reduce the bill.

During the 2022 election campaign, the Quebec Liberal Party promised to increase the supplement to $215 per child if elected to government.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on Aug. 15, 2023.