Are public schools really like this now?

[Seraphina]

When I went to school, I basically only needed to bring a notebook and a pencil.

My boyfriend raised a woman's child, because she considered him too troublesome to raise (he was almost done with high school when I met my boyfriend) and he considers my boyfriend his father.

So my boyfriend's "son" has kids of his own.  

This girl is starting her very first year of school, and the list of stuff she needs is ridiculous.

She needs baby wipes, paper towels, dry erasable pens, these items have to be a "specific" brand.

The notebooks have to be a certain color.

This is public school.  Wouldn't the school normally provide such things as paper towels and baby wipes and dry erasable pens?  

The only thing I can figure is that the school is depending on the parents to provide that which the school automatically should.

Ah, they can safely tell the school district to stuff their lavish lists of school supplies up their you know where.
When my kid started kindergarten, I diligently went to Target and bought all the supplies on the list the school mailed to me. Many of the items are very particular - like a certain brand of highlighter or certain sizes of items.

Then I found out that these weren't supplies for my daughter to keep in her desk and use during the school day, they were handed over to the teacher to do as she wished.
So I only buy a few things off the list that I know mu daughter needs and will use like a backpack and pencils. The rest like Kleenex, reams of paper and Clorox wipes can be supplied out of the teacher's or school's pockets. They also get a tax deduction for buying their supplies; parents don't.

In California, it is illegal to charge families for public educational costs. A family in my city sued the public school district a few years ago to get reimbursement for buying a long list of items that the district gave the impression that they must buy.
Now the district sends their long list of supplies to parents with a little side note - "purchase of these items are voluntary".

-Teresa