Registration Fees - Rant

[princessmom29]

Our schools do not charge fees and the middle school even provides the planners for the kids. My daughter has both art and Chorus this year as well as the basic classes and there are no extra fees for them either. The art teacher used to require drawing pencils and a sketch pad for the art kids but now they are only recommended. I bought both for my dd as you can get them fairly cheap at Michael's with a coupon.

I also have one in high school and he did mention something about needing $35 for senior fees but I guess that is for the prom and things like that. Not really sure as I have not had a chance to read the paper he has on it.

As for the back packs and school supplies, the only places here that do the backpacks are the school resource centers. We did have a church or two that would give out supplies as part of their back to school bashes but not sure if they did it this year as we were gone for much of the summer.

Sounds like you are lucky enough to live in a district with an affluent tax base, and someone who understands what schools need to run. Schools in Alabama are funded through sales tax, not property taxes so our revenue is much more variable, and split from a state pool rather than revenue collected from a district going to that district.

 

[mrsklamc]

Kids in Indiana pay hundreds for 'book rental fees.' I STILL don't understand how they get away with it. I have told friends I would demand to have the book list and I'll buy them myself for $300. They say that's not allowed.When we question why there's not money for books but there are for stupid fancy electronic signs they say they are different budget categories by law. I have one idea to cut the budget- they could cut the length of the school year which starts tomorrow!

I really hope to move by the time we have school aged kids but if we don't we will likely home school.

 

[princessmom29]

Kids in Indiana pay hundreds for 'book rental fees.' I STILL don't understand how they get away with it. I have told friends I would demand to have the book list and I'll buy them myself for $300. They say that's not allowed.When we question why there's not money for books but there are for stupid fancy electronic signs they say they are different budget categories by law. I have one idea to cut the budget- they could cut the length of the school year which starts tomorrow!

I really hope to move by the time we have school aged kids but if we don't we will likely home school.

There really are different buget categories by law. The state voted to put cisco phone systems in every room in all schools as "safety measure" the same year they cut 3% of all teacher positions. I don't get the logic, but we cannot take out the phones and use the money to pay for a teacher!

 

[descovy]

I guess we can thank all those old farts who vote "no" on school levies, bonds, tax increases etc., etc., etc.,. Nobody wants their taxes to go up,(to pay to educate other people's children) but no body wants to pay out of pocket for their own student either...

As a society we gotta pick our poison. SOMEBODY has to fund public education. It doesn't fund itself.

 

[mrsklamc]

There really are different buget categories by law. The state voted to put cisco phone systems in every room in all schools as "safety measure" the same year they cut 3% of all teacher positions. I don't get the logic, but we cannot take out the phones and use the money to pay for a teacher!

I have no doubt that they are, but someone needs to get a clue, and get the laws changed. The Superintendent of schools says these signs 'give kids pride in their schools' (yeah right cause kids care about electronic message boards) and whoever programs the one by my house is clueless because they try to put 10 sentence messages on them to parents and then they go by SO SLLOOWWWLLY that you MIGHT have driven past the sign over the course of the month enough to piece the message together.

 

[mrsklamc]

I guess we can thank all those old farts who vote "no" on school levies, bonds, tax increases etc., etc., etc.,. Nobody wants their taxes to go up,(to pay to educate other people's children) but no body wants to pay out of pocket for their own student either...

As a society we gotta pick our poison. SOMEBODY has to fund public education. It doesn't fund itself.

Of course not. I just expect them to use the money they have just a LITTLE bit responsibly before they ask for more.

 

[jimanda44]

Illinois has dropped its %5 state tax for a week on all things school related. I know its not fees and things that everyone is referring to, but it has certainly helped while buying school supplies and clothes for 4 children. Our son is in High School and his list of school fees came in last week with a total of $734. So every little bit is helping around here!

 

[Leajess99]

Sounds like you are lucky enough to live in a district with an affluent tax base, and someone who understands what schools need to run. Schools in Alabama are funded through sales tax, not property taxes so our revenue is much more variable, and split from a state pool rather than revenue collected from a district going to that district.

Really we don't have an affluent tax base although we do live in the 3rd or 4th largest city in the state. We also have 2 school districts in our city with different taxes. Many of our schools do get extra funding based off of the military kids and kids whose parents work on the military installation or other federal property. I don't know for sure but I don't think the largest city even charges fees. I honestly think that this state actually is putting the education above most other issues/needs.

 

[Leajess99]

Kids in Indiana pay hundreds for 'book rental fees.' I STILL don't understand how they get away with it. I have told friends I would demand to have the book list and I'll buy them myself for $300. They say that's not allowed.When we question why there's not money for books but there are for stupid fancy electronic signs they say they are different budget categories by law. I have one idea to cut the budget- they could cut the length of the school year which starts tomorrow!
I really hope to move by the time we have school aged kids but if we don't we will likely home school.

Actually by law they have to have so many days. My kids will have been in school a week tomorrow. Here they could save more money if they would cut some of the unnecessary transportation costs. Seriously, if you child lives across the street from the school than the parents need to be responsible for their transportation. Where I went to school in Michigan you were not riding a bus unless you lived more than a mile away. There were many cold days in which I walked to school through at least a foot of snow. Here, they pick kids up literally across the street from the school and have bus stops like 10 feet a part. It is ridiculous and such a waste of gas and money.

 

[mdsd8700]

We pay fees, although I beleive they are fairly reasonable although from what I read here most people would not. My son is in his junior year in HS and will pay about $450 in fees (not inlcluding supplies and sports). My daughter is in 8th greade and I will pay about $150 in fees (not including supplies or sports). Our schools are among the best. Consistently high in test scores with course choices that I could have never dreamed of at their age. The teachers for the most part are excellent (always a few you could do without). They have gone to a new schools for each level of education (grade school k-4), middle school (5-6) and junior high (7-8). My son is the first graduating class of his High School. Both of their opportunites for learning and activities is first rate. Our taxes are high, but well worth every penny for the education and opportunities they have. For me I have no issue with the fees that are charged and consider myself lucky to live in our school district.

 

[sunshine1178]

It cost us about $250 for our sophomore's fees. I know that the state has stopped paying the schools the promised money and blah, blah, blah... just no new clothes this year. Somehow she'll live through it. My favorite is the $30 book fee for pe! I told her to bring that book home -- I'm so old that we exercised in pe, instead of reading about it!

 

[kifuller4]

I send my kids to a private school. I paid $1017 in the beginning of August for their registration, books, 1st month tuition, computer fees and gym uniform. This does not include the school supplies list that was sent in the mail or any school uniforms. My children are also required to have a Bible. I will say, where I live, I believe that this is some of the BEST money I have spent. My two kids are well above the national average for thier grade levels. There are kids that go to this school that I'm sure can't pay the whole tuition, but they don't get turned away. Some parents work it off doing misc things for the school. We also have 3 fundraisers a year! I know times are tough, and believe me, I HATE that schools cut funding for teachers and classes but always seem to have enough money for the sports programs.... but instead of thinking of it as paying the school, think of it as an investment in your childs future.

 

[disneyelaine]

I really hope to move by the time we have school aged kids but if we don't we will likely home school.

I homeschool my youngest son. His "fees" came to over 800.00 so far for this years materials. Of course I believe he attends an excellent school, well worth the "fees." LOL!

My oldest son is in public school (a senior). His fees will be in the 80.00 dollar range as usual.

 

[Tink-aholic]

I teach in a low-income district (over 80% free lunch) and live in an affluent tax area, so we don't have fees. I think that school fees are a fair way to distribute the costs. Why should a childless couple pay as much as someone with children?

I wonder if those people who pay school fees have lower taxes than those who don't (if school is based on property tax). I live in NH and I pay about $5500 per year in property tax (avg home 3BR/2BTH). We have excellent schools, but we pay for it in our taxes. My sister lives in FL and pays less than half of what I do in tax. Their schools are overcrowded and are in a budget crisis now. She will be paying fees this year to help make up for the shortfall.

 

[Disney st8 of mind]

but if I now have to start paying for my kid to take a freakin math class, then it's no longer Public education is it? So next year in order to take a language class they start charging 200 bucks, is that ok? what about geometry? what happens when that starts charging $100 bucks.
Heck why not call it what it is, tuition.

I wonder how long it will be until schools start sending home bills for your child's portion of the electric and water?

 

[Tiana]

...

 

[TxRabbit]

I'm amazed at all the fees charged across the US.

Here in TX, I don't pay any fees. We always have a manditory school supply list which are supposed to be dropped off on Meet the Teacher or the first day of school. I'm not sure what would happen if you didn't. Never paid for a field trip. The parents contribute to things like homeroom parties, fundraisers, school functions. We were charged admission to the School Spirit Day Festival thing, but that, of course, is voluntary attendance.

We are in a new school district this year. I have to pay $2 for an agenda.

It does make me wonder about property taxes and funding for schools. Actual dollars don't mean as much as % to me. Tx doesn't have a state income tax, the schools are funded with property tax. Our old ISD was 1.41%. The new one is 1.36%. (Please keep in mind, that this is for the schools ONLY. Total property tax % is usually 3 to 4%).

 

[aceys_h0ney]

Add me to the list of people shocked at the fees you are describing. We have school supply lists. We do have a lot of programs that cost extra for your child to sign up, like violin you pay for the rental or purchase, some sports have fees but my son plays middle school football and we just have to pay for his cleats. In high school we will have to pay a uniform fee and a sports fee but those are the normal fees in our area. He has some electives he takes that require a fee like woodworking for his materials but for core classes we don't have to pay. We have to buy him a $3 agenda that he will lose in the first two weeks of school . Now we get nickled and dimed for class parties but again those are fees I expect. I would not say I live in an affluent area and our taxes are decent I think. I pay $900 a year for our 1800 sq foot home and around $500 a year in person property taxes on my 2 vehicles.

I think it is just a tough line, someone has to pay for their education and if taxes are not cutting it they have to find some way to make up the difference.

This year our school is doing a new calendar to cut down on the number of days the children are at school saving on transportation and electricity. They are going to school 20 minutes longer each day and they cut out all workdays except 1 before the end of each grading period. They cut several holidays also. The kids will have almost a month for winter break and get out mid May instead of mid June. Also once the kids hit middle and high school there are way less bus stops. My son walks about 1/4 of a mile to the bus (he will walk further for high school). They have one stop for our entire neighborhood. The elementary schools stop every 2-3 blocks. These are changes our city made years ago to save on transportation. Also the schools start at different times in the morning to allow the same buses to cover the routes. Instead of 3 groups of buses.

ETA obviously the downside to the changes in hours is the people like janitors and bus drivers that will work less hours now. I don't know if they are doing anything to compensate them for their loss in pay. I do know that our school was facing major major cuts and got very creative to save all our programs, the new hours alone are saving a tremendous amount and they city only had to cut about 30 actual positions, about 100 vacant positions were cut. They were able to put a lot of the people initially set to be cut into positions where they allowed teachers to retire early (with no loss of benefits)

 

[hambirg]

I didn't read this whole thread. . .but ex-teacher here. These fees aren't mandatory. . .they can't be! The extra-curricular things sure. . .Sally wants a yearbook. . .$25. . .fine. I taught in an inner-city, low income, elementary school. . my last year. . .out of 28 students I had 2 show up with school supplies! What was I going to do? Turn away the other 26? Of course not! I understand the teachers points of view. . .BUT if anything is going to change. . .if the higher-ups. . politicians included. . . are going to get a clue. . .then don't pay those fees!!! This is a real sore spot for me. . .if you can't already tell.

Just as an example. . .our elementary school had an assistant principal. . .according to the district website. . . she had to be making at LEAST $60,000/yr. I worked there for 6yrs and still have no idea what she did!!! She wasn't the discipline person like in the higher grades. She basically took pictures at the assemblies, accompanied the principal at fancy out of state conferences, and served as the "yes" lackey to the principal. If you divided up her salary into the classrooms it would work out to over $3000 per yr. . per classroom!

The public education system is a multi-million dollar business, and vendors push hard to get their slice of that! I'm pretty sure that "required" portfolio isn't much more than a notebook. . .and since when do kids need ID's with lanyards??? Again, my last year of teaching. . man I was p*ssed off that year. . .I was pregnant, maybe that's why. . . anywhoo. . .we were pushed hard to order the reading curriculum workbooks with our $200 classroom money. A lot of teachers did. No way! Why would I buy something for my room that was only going to last a year. . .and pretty much just replaced paper? The same questions were at the end of each chapter. . .the students wrote their answers on paper. . .how hard was THAT?? Districts are updating their curriculmus to crap. . .seriously! We used to fight over an old math serious from the 70's because our new math books were garbage. BUT mark my word. . .somebody made some serious cash selling that new worthless series.

As someone that values education. . .it's just really frustrating! The districts. . .at least mine . . .are waaaay top heavy. There are millions of dollars being spent. . .but it doesn't have anything to do with what's best for the kids. They need to get back in the business of educating kids and out of the portfolio, workbook, lanyard business!

 

[kellydizfan]

We don't pay fees. Teachers have a list of what is needed for the year. We just spent over $100 in Staples another $35 in Target and another $10 in Walmart in School Supplies - not including the bookbags, my 2 dd purchased their own - found them for $10.00 in Williamsburg when we were down there and another $10 for one for my ds. I am sure there is stuff we missed. Our Jr./Sr. high requires color coded binders for each class so that the Teachers know that each student has the right binder for the right class. We are not required to pay fees but who knows this year - we start 9/8/10. The sports booster club just raised $150,000 in 66 days to continue sports in the Jr./Sr. high with $150,000 donation by the gentlemen who owns HITS due to the cuts. We are trying to raise $300,000 to keep music in the 4 elementary schools, library and arts. Otherwise our elementary kids will have no music for this year - instrumental band. We are not even close to raising that much money. We need $180,000 to add music alone back into the schools. Those little fees are nothing at this point in time. Yes if my child in Jr/Sr High needs reeds for an instrument - we have to pay for them. So there are fees but we don't pay the school.