KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As students head back to school, parents, teachers and families are shopping for school supplies.
On Tuesday, WBIR took a school supply list and grabbed 10 essentials, starting at a dollar store. The items cost, after tax, $13.66. If we had shopped during the tax-free weekend, we would have saved $1.16.
Families can save some money by starting at the dollar store for supplies and then shopping at another big-box store like Walmart if they can get to a big-box store.
Tennessee's tax-free weekend starts on Friday, July 26 and runs through Sunday, July 28. However, there are some limitations. Purchases exempt from sales tax over the holiday include school supplies and clothing under $100 per item, and computers under $1,500.
Other items excluded from the holiday are printer supplies, home appliances and other kinds of school supplies that cost more than $100.
Teachers can also use the holiday to stock up on items. Beth Crownover, a Grand Oaks Elementary School fifth-grade math teacher, said she and other teachers spend thousands of dollars supplying their classrooms.
"A lot of our paychecks go back into our classrooms," Crownover said. "I don't really know many teachers who wouldn't give something back into their classrooms. We kind of feel that it's necessary."
She mentioned any school supplies that families buy, or any extras, help teachers fund the exciting enrichment tools that make learning fun. Most purchases teachers make for their classrooms will not get reimbursed by the school.
"There's a lot of basics like pencils, paper and things, that sometimes we are supplying," Crownover said. "But if we supplied just that, it wouldn't be the experience of school that like a lot of kids remember."
Crownover said she and other teachers try to take advantage of good deals, whether that's sharing her Amazon teacher wishlist, or shopping on tax-free weekend.
"Your teachers really do love your kids," she said. "Anything that they are asking for is for your kids' benefit completely. If you know somebody who is a teacher and you have an extra $15 that you could send to their classroom, you don't know how much that really impacts them and $15 a teacher can make that go a really long way."