School supply costs up nearly 8%, Missouri's tax-free weekend offers some relief

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.

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Missouri's 2026 back-to-school tax-free weekend begins Friday and lasts through Sunday at midnight.

Qualifying items, including clothing, school supplies and computers, are exempt from all state and local sales or use taxes for the weekend.

“College and high school are definitely different than what we’re used to with elementary school," Brandy Molina said after she took her children back-to-school shopping Wednesday.

A standard school supply list will be nearly 8% more expensive in 2026 compared to the previous school year, according to a Scripps News report. The increase in cost is more than double the rate of inflation.

Chase Lucas/KSHB 41

KSHB 41 reporter Lily O'Shea Becker went shopping for affordable options listed on the standard school supply list for a fifth and sixth grader enrolled in Kansas City Public Schools.

The list includes:

• One backpack
• One supply box or pencil pouch
• One glue stick or 8 oz. bottle washable glue
• One pair of scissors
• One large pink eraser
• 12 No. 2 pencils, sharpened
• One box colored pencils
• One box of 24 count crayons
• One red checking pen
• One highlighter
• Two blue or black ballpoint pens
• One ruler with inches and metrics
• Three pocket folders
• One package of loose leaf wide ruled paper
• Three wide rule spiral notebooks
• One composition notebook (journal)
• One three-ring binder
• Two boxes of tissue

The total added up to $64.81 at the Ward Parkway Target. Of that, $5.88 went toward taxes.

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