How common are public school "fees"

[peg2001]

How many of your public school systems have school fees? I do not mean for band, sports, field trips, etc. but a fee that every child is expected to pay to help support the school? Is this legal? Doesn't it go directly against the "free education" aspect of education in this country?

I am going to start keeping a running talley of all the money I send to school with my kindergartener. It started out with a list of classroom supplies like hand soap, paper towels, copy paper, etc. that I know my parents weren't asked to buy when I was a kid, and a $25 school fee. I won't even count the optional costs like lunch, school photos, fundraising events. The most recent was a charge of $3 to have someone come and talk to the class about bats. Hmmm. . .are the schools paying for speakers these days? I thought that maybe they would do some craft project related to bats and the $3 would cover the supplies. Nope, she brought home a single piece of paper with a bat picture that she had colored. I want to ask where the $3 went but I already raised hell about the $25 school fee when they wouldn't clarify what the money would be used for and they just may ask me to take my DD home.

Peggy

 

[Blondie]

I've never heard of such a thing in the public school system.

 

[browneyes]

At the beginning of the school year, they ask for a $10 per child school fee, with a maximum of $15 per family. It is NOT required. The teacher uses the money to buy extra supplies for the kids-construction paper, glue sticks, stickers, etc. If the family don't or cannot pay the money, they don't have to.

We aren't charged to have people coming and talking to the kids though. That would make me mad. I remember when I was in middle school we had to pay a couple bucks if we wanted out of class to go to the snake show they had once a year. If you didn't pay, you stayed in class. Most paid.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We do provide a lot of supplies at the beginning of the year, and are charged a fee for field trips (always under $10). Other than that, my son's school doesn't charge any fees. Including his personal school supplies, I probably shell out $100 or so per year for his education. Not bad!

I remember class fees in high school, but nothing before that.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Very very common in my experience. But I can top that ---

This week my son's Language Arts teacher was issuing a "2 minute late" pass to every student who brought her a blue or red ink pen. Apparently the school isn't even supplying pens to the teachers now!!!!

I'm betting the office got a few calls over that one!

 

[Cindy B]

Yes the Kindergarten had a fee of $46. (covered supplies, snack, etc...) I can't tell you how I could spend $46 x 80.. and see what I come up with.... (It would be a heck of a lot more, but I don't run the show)

No, we didn't have a speaker fee, but I could see that happening.. that is why we have tons of fundraisers.

Yes, fees are becoming increasinly used in many areas of school..

 

[RNMOM]

I just wrote checks for my DS in high school for over 350.00 in fees for classes.

One is taking several art classes. 55 dollars for pottery? 40 for drawing? The one that really gets me is the 35 dollar fee for tech design on computers. Plus we have to purchase the workbooks separate. Oh well, our town is on the lake and we have a certain "level" to strive for. The rest of us who DON'T live on the lake have to struggle to make do.

 

[jfulcer]

DD's school is a magnet Arts public school and does things well outside the normal 'public school' curriculum that other schools in our district do not do. They take many more fields trips, do a ton more crafts, and have a much more structured environment than normal. A lot of these external activities have a fee, but even when they ask for money, it's still not really 'required'. There are some lower income families that cannot afford it, and they generally get sponsored by other families in the class.

We are told up front that there are additional fees and responsibilities for our children to be attending this school. If you can't pay the fees, they suggest you choose a different neighboorhood school.

I don't mind helping out the schools, they are so underfunded nationally that sometimes this is the only way to afford these things. When a school is thinking about letting teachers go becuase they can't afford the payroll, my paying money here and there seems like such a small sacrifice to make to make sure ALL the teachers stay where they are.

Want to not pay those fees? Call your congressman or representative and get them to increase school spending. Good luck!

 

[jfulcer]

DD's school is a magnet Arts public school and does things well outside the normal 'public school' curriculum that other schools in our district do not do. They take many more fields trips, do a ton more crafts, and have a much more structured environment than normal. A lot of these external activities have a fee, but even when they ask for money, it's still not really 'required'. There are some lower income families that cannot afford it, and they generally get sponsored by other families in the class.

We are told up front that there are additional fees and responsibilities for our children to be attending this school. If you can't pay the fees, they suggest you choose a different neighboorhood school.

I don't mind helping out the schools, they are so underfunded nationally that sometimes this is the only way to afford these things. When a school is thinking about letting teachers go becuase they can't afford the payroll, my paying money here and there seems like such a small sacrifice to make to make sure ALL the teachers stay where they are.

Want to not pay those fees? Call your congressman or representative and get them to increase school spending. Good luck!

 

[believe]

Growing up my parents had school fees as well as book rental fees. The ironic thing was my parents where 'low income' so we didn't pay for lunch, but were expected to pay these fees. If you didn't pay the fee you didn't get your report card. If it was your senior year, then you couldn't go through the graduation ceremony.

 

[llp479]

Our fees this year for my dd in K and my dds in 3 were $60 each! This doesn't include the school supplies, which cost me another $40 each, or the teacher's wish list items - anti-bacterial cleaning wipes, copy paper, etc. Nor the "gym" shoes, to be left at school, for another $20/child. You don't even want to know what my tax bill is!

 

[jsmith]

Well lets see-you vote down the mill levy that supports local school funding, Politicians give tax cuts to get elected, teachers who are paid nothing anyway need a cost of living increase to cover the cost of supplies that they pay for out of their own pockets, States create tougher standards that require more instructional time and increase costs, we have a huge influx of non english speaking students that need extra time to become english proficient so they can meet the state standards.........
the money has to come from somewhere-the $3 dollars for a speaker on bats is probalby something that the school district would have provided before but due to other pressures likely can not-the teacher can't really pay for it out of her own pocket so her other options are to ask the parents to cover the cost or not give the students the opportunity-she chose to ask the parents to help support the cost. I would imagine that you are free to have your child go to the library rather than pay the fee and participate. Maybe your school opts to just charge the "fees" rather than ask families to participate in fundraisers. Eitherway, funding has to come from somewhere-Education is anything but free and we expect so much of our public schools these days that we have to expect these things to happen. Believe me I don't like it any better than you do (I paid $270 in "fees" when i registered my 8th grader and 12th grader is fall-that is seperate from $200 I will pay through out the year in atheletic fees, $200 we raised for fall sports programs, $600 we raised for the middle school fundrasier, the LOTE fundraiser we will be asked to participate in, and spring sports fundraisers.) but I understand that with state budgets pinched and the federal goverment imposing standards and programs that they do not fund, along with rising expenses, and in my district the number of families who can't pay fees, That this is what is required to help support the programs I expect the schools to offer. That would be why I have campaigned for a mill levy increase.

 

[WDW2002]

Field Trips and the like are the only "fees" I have had to pay for, other then the standard school supplies. I much prefer the teacher/school tell me it will cost $15 to go to XXX field trip then to have "funds" raisers. UGH!!

 

[fireplug]

I think all of those fees are reasonable. I see no problem with the schools charging for things. It is still much cheaper than what we paid for ours to go to Catholic School. Not complaining it was our choice. I feel every citizen should pay towards the schools . When your children are using them it should be up to those parents to help out. I think that is only fair.

Steve

 

[gepetto]

I would rather pay the fee and have the money go directly to the school than pay higher taxes. At least with the fee you know the money will benefit your child and his school.

 

[Sharon A.]

Good point Gepetto.

We provide school supplies at the beginning of the year (about $40-50 worth of supplies), pay for Mad Science to come in several times a year (but they do provide materials), pay for field trips, class parties and other special events but don't have a class fee per se.

Even though I pay a ton in property taxes, I don't mind since my kids are directly benefitting. I feel sorry for the teachers that they have to always be bugging parents to supply the things they need.

 

[Serena]

We have book rental and some fee's like this. As part of the PTO, the fundraising we do helps offset the costs of things the teachers, or principal has to pay out of pocket.
That's why the schools do so much fundraising.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

The school portion of my Property Tax bill is higher than what it would cost me in tuition to send my 2 kids to the local Private School. My 7th grader was over $300 in fees and my 3rd grader was about $180. This doesn't count the athletic fees and school trip fees that I will pay during the year, school supplies for the kids and classroom, and other miscellaneous stuff like the Time For Kids Subscriptions. I also pay seperate fees for things like a bus pass for my kids to ride the after school activity bus. I really can't complain about those -- they are all services that my kids use and enjoy.

I helped out for about 4 hours this year at registration and I would estimate that about 20% of the forms that I processed did not pay the fees. Basically if a family applies for an exemption, it is granted. The school district doesn't seem to have a real firm policy on income levels or other considerations. I suspect however that a significant portion of my fees are covering the costs of the students who don't/can't pay.


Still - our town has fought very hard to maintain a "small town" community atmosphere and they fight tooth and nail against any major business that wants to buy the surrounding farmland to move in. It is getting to be next to impossible to support the school district based solely on residential Property Taxes.

There just isn't an easy solution.

 

[bfeller]

Education is very expensive public or private. I have a senior and a freshman. I have lived in 5 different states and have purchased school supplies and paid school fees. Just thought that it was the norm. Anyway, I want my child to get the best education possible.

 

[judi]

We've always had to pay school fees. Even when I was in school and I graduated back in 79. Depending on the grade we have payed anywhere between 25-100 for work books and general fees. Still cheaper than what we are paying for our oldest to attend OSU. We are in an excellent school district. We've been rated in the top 10% in the nation. Guess I can't complain.