Parents are spending hundreds of dollars on school supplies. Some even go into debt.

As the new school year approaches, U.S. parents on average are spending a record amount for supplies, with some families even going into debt to provide for their children. Behind the spending surge are heavier requirements from schools, inflation and fears that some students may shift back to remote education as COVID-19 infection rates rise across the nation.

The typical family with children in K-12 education this year will shell out roughly $850 on school supplies — a record — according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. That's up more than 7% from last year, when millions of parents were forced to spend more to prepare for remote classes as the coronavirus shuttered schools. Since the start of the 2019-20 school year, before the pandemic, parents' spending on school supplies has jumped 22%, according to the NRF, which surveyed more than 7,700 people. The new scholastic year is again starting with uncertainty as COVID-19 cases spike across the nation, threatening to throw schools' plans for returning exclusively to in-person teaching into turmoil. Parents feel they must be prepared for multiple scenarios — in-person classes, hybrid or fully remote — experts say. Schools are also adding to back-to-school lists supplies that weren't required pre-pandemic, such as Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer.