Headlines

More Families Start Planning Back-to-School Shopping in June

Process hampered by outdated or inaccessible supply lists, survey finds

Published

5 months ago

June 9, 2026

Finding needed school supplies can be frustrating, especially if current information on what’s needed is either unavailable or hard to find, a new survey shows. Photo: JackF/iStock by Getty Images

Even though rented caps-and-gowns from this year’s graduations are barely back in mothballs, a growing number of parents with kids heading back to the classroom in the fall are already thinking about – and getting frustrated by – buying school supplies, a recent survey has found.

According to a TeacherLists questionnaire, 20% of responding families now intend to begin back-to-school shopping in June, a 9% increase compared to 2024 levels and consistent with 2025 findings. While July and August remain peak shopping months, the steady rise in June activity signals a meaningful shift toward earlier planning behavior.

Some specific findings from the survey include:

59% of parents associate back-to-school shopping with being stressful, financially challenging, or something they dread.
36% of families report that it takes three or more trips to complete shopping for requested school supplies, underscoring ongoing inefficiencies in how families gather and act on supply information.
36% of families have had difficulty finding their child’s school supply list, and 19% say locating the list remains difficult year after year.

It’s working to reduce that last item where TeacherLists comes in, it said in a news release about the survey results. “TeacherLists transforms school supply lists into convenient, digital shoppable formats,” the release notes. “This service is free for families, schools, and districts.”

TeacherLists says it partners with such major retailers as Walmart, Target, Amazon, Staples, Office Depot, HEB, Meijer, Dollar General, Kroger and CVS to offer shopping online, in-store, or both, giving families options to shop the way that works for them.

Here’s how interested parties can use TeachLists: Parents should go to teacherlists.com/families and search by state or zip code to find their school’s list. If a list isn’t available yet, they can sign up to get a notification as soon as it goes live. Interested school systems can get started by visiting teacherlists.com/schools-districts.