The school supply list used to be simple. Now, for many Bakersfield families, it’s a negotiation.
As the first day of school approaches, parents are walking store aisles with a sharper eye, putting items back, swapping name brands for store labels and having honest conversations with their children about what the family can afford this year.
Erica Davis knows the feeling well. The mother said her back-to-school strategy has shifted in recent years, and the change is deliberate…