Sales tax holiday comes before specific class supply lists released

MANATEE -- On Friday, when hoards of pencils, pens, notebooks, sneakers, pants and shirts are offered at a discount during the state sales tax holiday, local school principals advise "smart shopping."

School officials encourage families to stock up on the basics, but advocate holding off buying pricier items to see individual classroom and school supply lists, or even waiting until the first couple days of school when teachers specify what students need.

"You don't need to overload yourself on the first day," Haile Middle School Principal Sharon Scarbrough said.

According to the National Retail Federation, the typical family with K-12 students will spend about $630 on school supplies this year, a slight decrease from last year. According to a federation survey, more families plan to evaluate student needs before splurging on new items.

Local principals said students should show up on the first day with the basics -- writing utensil, notebook and folder -- and then use the next few days to fill in the gaps.

"The good news is it will all be on sale then," said Braden River High School Principal Jennifer Gilray.

Gilray, Scarbrough and Miller Elementary School Principal Scott Boyes all participated in a back-to-school TV spot filmed to offer advice to families and parents.

At the elementary level, some items are always needed, Boyes said, including tissues and other shared classroom items.

"Extra tissues are always welcome," he said.

Whiteboard markers and wipes are elementary school items classroom tend to burn through quickly, Boyes said. Students use individual whiteboards with teachers, sometimes playing games and holding up answers before wiping the board down to move onto the next problem.

"Those are nice to have extras of," Boyes said.

Another item parents may not think about is headphones, Boyes said. It's much easier for parents to buy clearance or cheap headphones for students to bring in for computer-based activities than it is for the school district to order them, he said. Since headphones are small, they can be lost or broken easily, so having a few extra pairs is good.

Most elementary school supply lists are broken down by grade level online or found in local supply stores, Boyes said.

Back-to-school nights, typically held the week before the school year begins, are also good times to find out exactly what students need. Back-to-school nights are also scheduled after the state sales tax holiday.

At middle and high schools, there are fewer shared items and more emphasis is put on tailoring supply choices to individual teacher needs, which is why Gilray and Scarbrough suggest parents wait to buy certain items until the school year starts.

For example, middle-school students probably aren't going to need a big three-ring binder for each class. Some teachers may just require a notebook and a folder to be stored in the classroom. Parents can also put off buying a fancy calculator until the teacher lays out the type students may need.

Clothing is an important factor for middle-school parents, according to Scarbrough. The district hasn't indicated which schools require uniforms yet. All students must comply with the district dress code, and a lot of middle-school students tend to hit a growth spurt, Scarbrough said.

"Especially in middle school, we know the kids grow. Something that complies with the dress code at the beginning of the year may not at the middle of the year," she said.

The district dress code requires skirts, dresses and shorts as long or longer than the tips of student fingertips when arms and hands are held straight down. A new update this year means the clothing must meet that requirement when students are seated when clothing can hike up and become inappropriately short.

Another piece of advice for parents: Buy a second backpack on sale, Scarbrough said.

Students can put backpacks through a lot of abuse whether it's overloading the backpack with supplies, wearing out a strap by using the backpack improperly or just through normal roughhousing.

"It's amazing how rough kids can be on their stuff," Scarbrough said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sales tax holiday comes before specific class supply lists released ."