Get Ready To Shop; Back To School Tax-Free Weekend Starts Friday

TAMPA, FL – Ready, set, shop. Florida's tax-free back-to-school weekend begins Friday, Aug. 3, and ends Sunday, Aug. 5.

To help families pay for back-to-school supplies, Florida is offering parents the opportunity to purchase items on their child's school supply list without paying state and local sales tax.

Florida is one of 17 states to offer back-to-school tax-free weekends.

The 6 percent state sales tax will be waived throughout Florida, plus residents can save money in counties and municipalities where local taxes are waived as well.

Tax-free Items

· Clothing: Including diapers, coats, costumes and sports uniforms. Up to $60 per item.

· Shoes: Including cleats and spikes. Up to $60 per item.

· School Supplies: Including calculators, backpacks and lunch boxes. Up to $15 per item.

Non-exempt items

• Any school supply item selling for more than $15;

• Any item of clothing selling for more than $60;

• Books that are not otherwise exempt;

• Rentals or leases of any eligible items;

• Repairs or alterations of any eligible items; or

• Sales of any eligible items in a theme park, entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport.

According to the National Retail Foundation, the average family spends $670 per child on school supplies.

It’s no wonder parents cringe when they pick up the mandatory school supply list for their child’s school.

The list for 11th-graders at Blake Magnet School for the Arts in Tampa, for instance, contains 27 items. There are 23 items required for third-graders attending Marlowe Elementary School in New Port Richey.

Things You Should Know Before Shopping

* Especially frustrating for parents is when teachers require name-brand items like Fiskars scissors, Ticonderoga pencils, Crayola crayons and the newest model of the Texas Instruments scientific calculator (Really, an older sibling’s 2-year-old model won’t do?) rather than cheaper versions.

* Schools (particularly private schools) that require purchasing uniforms from school uniform providers can also break the bank.

* While stores like Walmart carry many of the required uniforms for public schools at discounted prices (a Walmart brand Cherokee polo shirt for $4.97 or George brand khaki pants for $11.97) parochial school parents have no choice but to purchase uniforms from vendors like Risse Brothers School Uniforms in Tampa, Clearwater and Lakeland.

A uniform skort for Academy of Holy Names in South Tampa from Risse Brothers costs $41.50 and the school’s official cardigan sweater is $42 (hopefully, with Florida’s weather, you won’t have to purchase more than one cardigan.)

For Tampa Catholic School, a boys’ polo shirt will set you back $30 and a pair of khaki flat-front trousers sells for $40.25 (buy two, wash frequently).

Beware, Risse Brothers is usually as crowded as sardines in a tin on tax-free weekend.

* If your kid doesn’t mind wearing clothing with someone else’s name written on the label in indelible ink, you can see if parents of graduates have old uniforms for sale. Some private schools also host a uniform exchange.

* Parents who don’t have the patience for back-to-school shopping, particularly on the crowded tax-free weekend, can order tax-free items online.

Just be careful about purchasing generic bundles on online sites. They may not contain all the items required by your child’s teacher.

For the lazy parent, Target, Walmart and Office Depot have copies of the supply lists for many local schools and offer to fill your child’s entire list online with just one click. You pay the same price as you would if you tromped through the store on tax-free weekend.

* And be sure to peruse the circulars for sales. Also, check the online school website supply list before heading out because some have printable coupons for Office Depot and other stores.

* While you’re picking up supplies, keep in mind that there are many families who can’t afford to fill their child’s back-to-school shopping list.

More than 24 percent of Florida’s 3.9 million children live at or below the poverty level, according to the Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs.

For these parents, dishing out $670 per child for school supplies is not an option.

So, many public school teachers are forced to dig into their own pockets to purchase school supplies for needy students.

As a result, in addition to the mandatory school supply lists, many schools have started posting teacher wish lists online and encourage parents to purchase extras during tax-free week.

At Middleton High School in east Tampa, for instance, teachers are asking for donations of copy paper, college-ruled filler paper, pencils, highlighters, dry eraser markers, colored pencils, hand sanitizer and tissues.

* For those seeking to make a big impact on a child’s education, many Florida teachers have registered their donation requests on the website DonorsChoose.org.

Melissa Francavilla teaches agriculture science to 11th-graders at Middleton High School where more than half of the students are from low-income families. But most of the items she needs to equip her Future Farmers of America chapter can’t be purchased at Walmart so she’s seeking monetary donations.

Belinda Zientek, a fifth-grade teacher at Sleepy Hill Elementary School in Lakeland, is similar challenged. Three-fourths of her students are from low-income families.

“I work in a Title I school as a reading, writing and social studies teacher,” she said. “My students need to learn to use technology so they are prepared for the real world. Many of the programs provided to Title 1 Schools are on computers, but each class only has access to five”

She’s seeking donations to purchase 20 Fire 7 tablets with Alexa for $44.99 each.

Images via Florida Department of Revenue