Organizations, parents gear up for back to school

It's almost time for area students to begin a new school year, so efforts are underway to make sure they're equipped and ready to learn.

Wal-Mart stores around Missouri, including those in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville, are hosting Stuff the Bus events in which shoppers can donate district-specific school supplies for underprivileged children.

Gary Elders, Cape Girardeau Wal-Mart manager and a member of the Scott City School Board, said the local event is set from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

At the location in Cape Girardeau, six schools are involved so far, and other districts may partner with other store locations.

Five of the six districts coming to Cape are expected to bring buses shoppers can fill with newly bought supplies -- Cape Girardeau; Scott City; Woodland; Chaffee, Missouri; and Cairo, Illinois. The Kelly School District is participating, but won't have a bus.

Chelsea Gilman shops for school supplies at Target on Wednesday with her son, Gunner. (GLENN LANDBERG)

"Personally with my kids, it's probably anywhere from $75 to $100 per student to get school supplies by the time you add in the backpack," Elder said. "A lot of these schools, I've been looking at the list. Each class has its own list of things they have to have."

That can include everything from facial tissue and pencils to bacterial wipes.

Donna Uhrhan, a Chaffee parent, said she's spent $30 on school supplies so far.

"The clothes [are] what gets expensive. We haven't taken that trip yet; we're waiting for the tax-free weekend to take advantage of that," she said.

This year, the three-day holiday began at 12:01 a.m. today and runs through midnight Sunday. That means certain items are exempt from sales tax during the holiday if a jurisdiction (city or county) chooses to participate, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Although Bollinger County opted out of the tax holiday, department information shows Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties are participating.

These items will be exempted from sales taxes in participating counties during the next few

days:

* Clothing: Any item with a taxable value of $100 or less, including footwear. This applies to regular clothing as well as school uniforms, but it does not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands or belt buckles.

* School supplies: Not to exceed $50 per purchase, these include standard items used in a classroom, such as textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, rulers, calculators, maps, globes and more. For the full list, see http://dor.mo.gov/business/sales/taxholiday/school/consumers.php

* Computer software: Must have a taxable value of $350 or less.

* Personal computers: Not to exceed $3,500, these are laptops and desktops or tower computer systems consisting of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor and a keyboard.

* Computer peripheral devices: Must not exceed $3,500.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639