Is my school supply list a violation of the commerce clause?
hello,
My daughter will be starting kinder garden in Louisiana. I picked up a school supply list and on it where several items that had me concerned. There are two issues’ I have with the list
1) it is requiring specific brand names of items.
2) it is requiring specific items that can only be purchased at the locally owned specialty school shop.
It seems as if there is some "good ol boy" buddy system at play here. When I asked about where to get the items and if there were substitutions I was told just to get them from the specialty shop "the price isn't that bad".
I was wondering if this would violate the commerce clause, free market federal laws, or any Louisiana codes?
thanks
Answers:
That seems absolutely inappropriate, and unnecessary as well -- they're in kindergarten, how specialized do their supplies need to be? I thought it was bad enough when my daughter started college and they required a specific calculator...but in grade school?!
I would start with contacting the principal, and if that is unsatisfactory, the local school board. Write letters to the editor. Get other parents involved. This just sounds like a racket to me.
They don't care if you get Crayola crayons or Roseart. They put the list out there to make it easier for parents. It doesn't matter if you buy pencils, crayons, and a pencil box at Walmart or whatever store. Don't make it a big deal, just make sure your kindergartener is ready for the first day.
*Edit - The first posting sugests you contact the principal and make a fuss. It's just not a big deal; don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.
i would think number two would be against some law don't know which one though but number one i think is legal because they probably prefer that brand maybe because its better or designed for their age
The Commerce Clause deals with interstate commerce, so unless the store is in another state, no. Secondly, there are no free market federal laws - the "free market" is an economic philosophy, not a law. It is not mandated by the government. As for La. law, I have no idea, but I highly, highly doubt it.
Even if it was, requiring certain materials for something is not illegal. Assuming the shop was in, say, Mississippi, and you had to have it for your kid in Louisiana, you would have to prove the store, in conjunction with the school, is forcing a grossly unfair monopoly, at which point, you could get them under antitrust laws. However, if this company is the only one who makes that kind of product, or this company is one of many companies that makes these products, this one being the one the school decided to contract with, it's doubtful the claim would go anywhere at all.
Sorry.
Many schools list a specific name brand (ie Crayola). Teachers want their students to be consistent with the school supplies they buy. If the list say to purchase a box of Crayola Crayons in the 8 count box, then do so. They don't want other parents to buy them the 64 count box. The goal is to have all students using the same exact thing so one student doesn't feel left out because they have the 'generic' crayons (or whatever), while the student next to them has an imported set of 500.
And yes, you may run into the need to run to a specialty school shop in order to pick up a couple supplies. See if those same items are available on-line if you wish.
I know there is a specific brand of safety scissors they ask for but when I inquired about it the teach let me know that they worked well but they also have a very high safety rating so I understood that plus they were not much more expensive than any other brand. Anything other than safety issues is crazy. I am a single mom of 4 and money gets tight this time of year so name brands are out of reach at times. My advice is to get everything on the list but get the brands that are affordable and if there is an issue made about it later then I would raise a stink with the school then. Maybe it is just for guidelines and they won't care.
easy problem to solve : switch to another school if u dont like their requirements.
No, it doesn't violate any laws, except the law on stupidity (hehe j/k). Are you sure it's "requiring" certain brands of items, or simply providing a suggestion? The school may have an agreement where a certain store has agreed to guarantee to have adequate supplies in stock for all the students, in order to make it easier for parents by ensuring that everything is available in one place.
I can almost guarantee you that if you get each item on the list, no one is going to care what brand it is. I suggest you just do that and see what happens.
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