Dodge inflation with school supply shopping tips

CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Summer vacation is drawing to a close and a new school year is right around the corner for many students, while it’s already begun for others.

More than 50 million students will return to classrooms across the nation for the 2022-2023 school year, and having the right supplies can make a difference for some students.

NewsNation is kicking off “Back to School Week” with your complete survival guide to help parents save money and get their kids off to the first day of school, help answer parents’ questions about the teacher shortage, conquer rising school supply costs and show some tricks to beat inflation.

From camp to class, students everywhere are preparing for the start of school, but this year is different — there’s a national teacher shortage.

“We are going to see higher class sizes. We are going to see people having to teach out of their certified areas; we are going to see more long-term substitutes,” said Mary Kusler, senior director of the National Education Association Center for Advocacy.

School districts are also facing a bus driver shortage that may impact some students’ routes to school. It’s so bad more than half of the school districts surveyed describe their bus driver shortages as severe or desperate.

This week, NewsNation will not only reveal the problems but show you how to get through them with expert tips on things you can do right now.

And what about school security; are we doing enough to protect our kids? NewsNation will look at new security measures like clear backpacks that are now required in several districts from Kansas to New Jersey.

Meanwhile, filling those backpacks has never been so expensive. Some back-to-school items have skyrocketed nearly 30% from a few years ago.

NewsNation will show you secret tricks to save on supplies so you can save up for a trip and how you can squeeze in one last summer vacation before the first day of school.

You can hear all of these stories on NewsNation Rush Hour tonight. The first topic: the national teacher shortage — how it will impact your kids in the classroom. Tune in NewsNation Rush Hour at 5 p.m. EST/4 P.M. CST to find out the reason most teachers are leaving the profession.