Back-to-school season can be a stressful time not just for teachers and students, but also for parents. One of the key challenges that parents face each year is having to shop for school supplies for their children, such as pencils, pens, notebooks, and folders, and trying to find exactly what they need in busy stores, which may have limited options.
Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District 113A in Illinois has made this process much simpler for parents with a customized school supply kit program from School Specialty.
The SchoolKidz program enables parents to buy a single school supply kit for each of their children online, using a simple order form. The kits contain everything their child needs to be successful for that year, as specified by the school’s teachers.
Not only is this a huge time saver for parents, but it can also become a highly successful fundraising tool. If a school or district PTO chooses to use the program for fundraising, they can designate how much extra to charge parents for each kit—and this additional revenue goes back to the PTO to benefit the school and students.
For the 2025-2026 school year, CSD 113A participated in the SchoolKidz supply kit program, which also had a simultaneous fundraising component, with great success. Due to the funds raised, the PTO was able to give money back to the school and even provided extra kits for students whose families couldn’t afford supplies. In a district where one in five children comes from low-income households, this helps level the playing field and ensures that all students will be successful.
PTO President Jordan Smuksta calls the SchoolKidz program a win-win-win for parents, children, and schools. “We hear all the time from parents how great the program is,” she notes.
How the Program Works
CSD 113A is a public K-8 district with four schools serving just over 2,500 total students. The district has been participating in the SchoolKidz program since 2018.
The process begins each spring, when teachers put together their lists of school supplies they want each child to have for the following school year. From these lists, the PTO works with School Specialty to put together customized supply kits for each grade level.
“The kits contain everything that kids need, from glue sticks and binders to headphones,” Smuksta says.
Using free promotional materials provided by School Specialty, the PTO then publicizes the program among parents. The tools to help market the program include a sample display kit, posters, yard signs, parent letters, social media posts, and reminder flyers.
Parents order the kits for their children online. School Specialty offers four different-sized kit boxes, color-coded by grade level, to accommodate nearly any supply list.
The deadline for ordering is in June, and the kits are shipped over the summer—ensuring that students have the supplies they need on day one of the new school year.
Working with School Specialty on the program has “been so easy,” Smuksta says. “They send us a timeline for promoting the program and reminders for parents. We take that information and blast it out to families through social media and our district’s messaging app, ParentSquare.” The promotions include a link to the online ordering website, she notes, which “makes it easy for families as well.”
Taking the Stress Off Parents
With no minimum orders required and no contract fees or penalties if the kits aren’t sold, there is no risk to schools in offering the program. But the rewards are tremendous.
Participating in the SchoolKidz program ensures that a significant number of students will arrive on the first day of school with everything their teachers have asked for, without requiring parents to endure the hassle of back-to-school shopping.
“This takes the stress off our parents at a busy time of the year,” Smuksta says.
The program also supplies the district’s PTO with a significant amount of revenue. Some of this money is invested in staff appreciation initiatives, and some is used to provide school supplies for children whose families can’t afford them—removing this burden from teachers and ensuring equity.
“School Specialty’s customer service representatives are fabulous to work with,” Smuksta adds. She concludes: “I can’t say enough about the company and this program.”