When my kids were young, they did this in Texas. We were provided a laundry list of supplies we needed to buy, including sanitizer and boxes of tissues. We could buy “wrap packs” with everything they needed. No fighting the traffic, crowds, etc. but it cost a little more and the PTA made money.
Seemed fair.
Then I learned that the teachers were opening the wrap packs, dumping the supplies into supply buckets, and divvying them out as needed because some students’ parents wouldn’t buy any supplies, so my kid was subsidizing them.
I stopped buying them, put my kids’ names on their stuff, and instructed them not to turn supplies over to teachers.
Not surprisingly, I no longer needed to buy scissors, rulers, etc. every year. We just used the ones from the prior year that didn’t get diverted to someone who didn’t pay.
I stopped donating to ‘underprivileged kids who can’t afford ANYTHINGGGGGGG’ after getting a Secret Santa for Kids Tree request where the kid’s parents asked for a computer, stereo, Air Jordons and luxury clothing.
With all the welfare money being doled out so the delinquent sperm and egg donors can pay for their booze, top shelf food, tattoos and luxury vehicles, so help me GOD, don’t anyone DARE ask me to ‘give to the poor’.
And, yes, when I am asked to ‘round up’ at the register, I tell them, absolutely not. I pay enough in taxes for their needs, not their ‘wants’.