If there’s one thing that can be found in any school, it’s paper. From tests to essays to homework, a student’s entire academic life can be almost entirely found on sheets of paper; it’s why the backpacks are so heavy. So what happens when we run out?

At the beginning of May, the copy center ordered the last of the paper budgeted for the 2024-25 school year. With less than two months until the end of the academic year, the high school has needed to adjust its paper consumption habits.

Paul Lauro-Priestly, graphic arts publishing coordinator in the career and technology education department, runs the copy center. He said the problem stems from the issue that has been top of mind for the school community: the budget crisis.

“It’s a budgetary freeze for the entire school system,” Lauro-Priestly said. “So what happens when we order paper is we have a [purchase order] that we get at the beginning of the year, which hopefully will be enough for the whole entire year. When the budgetary freeze happens, it means that PO is now closed and we cannot order any more paper.”

Lauro-Priestly said the copy center usually orders around 80 cases or 400,000 sheets of paper every two to three weeks. To outsiders, this might seem like an exorbitant amount, it roughly equates to only 13 pages per kid per day.

Now, with the budgeted money for paper used up, chemistry teacher Julia Speyer said adults at the high school have been receiving instructions regarding the anticipated paper shortfall.

“It was recommended that we start conserving paper where we could, so try to limit big packets when we can and really think about, do we need this on paper, or could it be done on Canvas?” Speyer said.

Speyer said that certain subject areas require paper more than others. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, chemistry teachers learned very quickly that digital learning could only do so much for students’ understanding, and that working on paper was the only option.

“When we were starting remote, we had a day when students could come in and pick up stuff. My colleagues in Chem I Honors made packets and had packets for pickup. For chemistry, once you’re into drawing molecules, it takes the physical act of drawing,” Speyer said.

Modern debates surrounding education are often centered around the use of technology in schools, including artificial intelligence and phone use. Junior Priscila Hill said that another one of her concerns with using less paper in schools is that it compounds a societal shift towards the digital sphere.

“It’s one step further into the world of technology where you’re doing less thought, and you’re more so just going through the motions. I feel like paper helps to get thought flowing more than a computer does,” Hill said.

Lauro-Priestly said by now, the school is back to pre-pandemic levels of paper consumption. He said recent studies and theories regarding the benefits that come with paper-based learning have contributed to this effect.

“Children absorb information and retain information better when it’s not on the screen, when it’s a tangible piece of paper or a tangible book, the information gets in and stays in, which is important,” Lauro-Priestly said.

Hill said she prefers doing work on paper, especially in assessment settings, as it allows her to mark up text and write out work easily. Still, in the midst of the budget crisis, Hill said the sacrifice of paper isn’t the worst one to make.

“I get that paper is obviously expensive and there’s a shortage right now of paper and money,” Hill said. “Even though paper for me is better, especially for math, I’m willing to use computers if it means saving the environment and hopefully having more money to pay our teachers.”