Pencils, pens, paper and calculators — the start of school means purchasing new supplies to aid children and teachers throughout the next year of learning.

The Vicksburg Warren School District has set forth a district-wide list of supplies for each grade to purchase complied by each principal with the input of teachers, communications and media specialist Christi Kilroy said.

These supplies should cost just under $27 at Walmart for first graders and just under $34 for junior high students, according to a price check compiled at the store Thursday.

The most expensive item on the list for the first graders is a book bag, which varies widely according to style. The next highest dollar item is a $5 box of Ziploc bags with a box of crayons coming in at 50 cents, the cheapest item.

As for junior high students, the most expensive supply is a $5 one- to two-inch binder and the cheapest was also a box of crayons.

In an effort to save time and money, some parents have taken school supply lists into their own hands. Erin Hern, a parent and PTO board member at Bowmar Elementary, went to every teacher in the school last year to compile a list of what each teacher specifically needed and then posted the list for all parents to use.

“I like to go shop one time and not go back,” she said.

Hern went to the teachers again this summer to update the list and plans to do it every year her children are at the school.

“It just helps our teachers not have to buy as much out of their own pocket and have a lot of the stuff at the beginning of the year,” she said. “It benefits everybody in the long run.”

Teachers receive an education enhancement fund procurement card at the beginning of each school year that expires on March 31. Each year the amount preloaded on the card varies, and this year teachers in districts across Mississippi received $389 to spend on classroom equipment, materials and supplies.

“It’s a supplemental program,” said Dorothy Wallace, co-coordinator of the EEF program at the VWSD. “It helps supplement what’s available at there school location.”

Money not spent goes back to the state and is added to the next year’s EEF cards, which is why the amount varies from year to year, she said.

For many families, the cost of supplies is too high and that is why many local organizations and churches work to gather donations to distribute to students in need. A group called the Young Executives sponsored an event Saturday with speakers including a teacher and a police officer from the community, and free supplies were given away to children with a guardian present.

“I want to give back to my community. I want to make this an every year thing,” organizer Jeremy Meekins said. The House of Peace Worship Church gave out supplies at a back to school night earlier this week, employees of Batesville Casket Co. donated school supplies to the Warren County Children’s Shelter and The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary collected donations and spent money they raised to fill 286 backpacks full of supplies given to children whose families applied for help in Warren and Claiborne counties.

These are just some of the groups who have chosen to support local students.