• By CHANTE DIONNE WARREN
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 6, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Kyle Brown thought this year’s high gasoline prices might mean she could no longer afford long drives in search of bargains for back-to-school supplies and clothes.

But she drove anywhere she thought she could find the savings, she said.

“I have to bargain shop,” said the mother of two, who visited Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Uniform Mart, Office Depot, Target, and even a few online shopping sites from home.

Brown and her husband, Ruben, have spent about $350 on clothes and school supplies for their daughter, Madison, 11, a McKinley Middle Magnet student, and about $865 on clothes, supplies and senior class fees for their son, Markus, 17, a Tara High student.

“Everything is so expensive,” Brown said. “I tell my children to focus and pay attention on school. It pays off, especially when your parents are struggling for you. Make mom and dad proud.”

As parents in East Baton Rouge and throughout the nation prepare their children for the start of school, parents’ pocketbooks are definitely being pinched this year.

The average family is spending $594 on back-to-school shopping this year compared with $563 in 2007, according a National Retail Federation survey of 8,361 consumers conducted July 1-8.

The survey also found that about 20 percent of parents nationwide set aside a portion of their economic-stimulus tax-relief checks for back-to-school purchases.

Those costs are running steep for Andree Duhon, a Baton Rouge mother whose children attend private schools. She calculated costs at $800 to pay for clothes, a book fee, and other school fees and supplies for her son, Jonathan, a junior at Christian Life Academy.

She expects to spend at least $300 or more on her daughter, Laura, a St. Aloysius student.

“I’m spending more this year for different reasons,” Duhon said. “I usually shop for used uniforms, but I’ve missed that so I’m paying full prices and that’s a killer.”

Duhon, who works for the East Baton Rouge Parish school system as a speech therapist, said she also works in the summer to bring in extra money for things such as school supplies. She did not work this summer. She told Jonathan he will have to wait until school starts to get a new book sack.

“The economy does affect us, but we’re doing OK,” Duhon said.