Learn More About Financing Your Child's School Year It’s clear that public school isn’t free after all, so what is a parent on a limited budget to do about it? The first thing to do is to accept it, and the next thing to do is to plan for it. If you’re a low-income parent, keep reading; there will be options and resources for you too. You may be surprised to learn about how much each parent is expected to buy for each child in school. Much of this is due to less funding for public schools and also simply technological advances and an unwillingness for local governments to raise taxes to pay for the additional expenses.