If advertisements and the impending turn of the calendar have you planning some back-to-school shopping this week, you may want to hold off.

Those in the know say buying supplies before the first day of class can backfire, as different teachers want different things – and in some cases, all necessary supplies are provided by the school.

“My advice really would be to wait and see what the direction is of each school,” says Wendy Goulden of the Waterloo Region District School Board.

The WRDSB, Goulden says, provides students with all necessary supplies.

Teachers may ask parents to make additional purchases, but the contents of those lists can vary from school to school and classroom to classroom, and are at parents’ discretion in any case.

Early indications show a slow start to the back-to-school season for retailers, although it’s unclear if that’s because parents are heeding advice to wait or because they’re moving online.

According to a survey from Ernst & Young, higher debt levels and the increased cost of food and gas also contributed to a decline in retail sales.

“Consumers will likely wait for further promotions, extending the back-to-school season into early September,” said Daniel Baer, the firm’s Canadian retail and consumer products sector leader, in a press release.

Particularly noticeable in the survey was a decline in sales of computers, tablets and other electronics.

Those items are becoming more familiar in the classroom – the Avon-Maitland District School Board, for example, is giving many Grade 6 students their own tablets, which they keep for as long as they’re with the board.

Goulden says more parents are sending their children to WRDSB schools with electronics, but the exact parameters of their use remain a matter to be discussed between parents and individual schools.

While the Ernst & Young report examined Canada as a whole, Ontario actually fared closer to its expectations for back-to-school sales, with the Maritimes holding the national numbers back more than any other region.

With files from The Canadian Press