School always asking for $$$$ for EVERYTHING... is it normal?

[allison443]

And the kids hardly ever used the equipment (I guess it was available during snack time if they wanted it - but the kids mainly ate & goofed off instead of playing on the equipment).

Hey they couldn't use the playground, they were busy eating their fundraiser slushies!!
Sorry couldn't resist!

 

[leight]

I hate the school fund raisers. I find magazine subscriptions for super cheap but because the daughter of Dh's best friend completed a postcard with our name I had to buy dh sports illustrated at a reg price.

DD#1 is in 5th grade and they do fund raisers all year thru for their big trip. $10 for a discount card- the card offers the same discounts from local vendors that come every week in my valuemail. Each week or two I feel like we're getting requests for money. Then there's the holiday gift wrap or candy. I would honestly prefer getting a bill at the beginning of the year for the trip so I can budget rather than these fund raisers. I would rather things like bake sales or selling candy at school functions or car washes. Make the 5th graders & parents volunteer for these so it goes for the trip. But I find it embarrassing trying to hit up friends and family for these fund raisers.

I also can't understand why we have to supply things like duct tape, paper towels, liquid soap, copy paper. Where does the tax money go?

 

[starwood]

I don't have a problem paying for anything that will help DS in his education. We are paying $700 so he can go with the band to WDW in April. This is a chance of a lifetime. I feel bad for the kids who can't afford it but this is offset by fundraisers.

What bothers me worse than this is that our church was trying to charge us $175 to have DS confirmed last year. This was free when I was confirmed. I can't see any reason for this fee so we have decided to wait until he is 18 and then he can go to RCIA for free.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

I think my tax dollars are being wasted.

 

[Kath2003]

Wait, you have to but PAPER??
All of this is supplied at every school I've ever been at, short of pens and pencils for high schoolers

 

[MareQ]

ITA
Those are really small classes. DS had 19 kids in his class in Kindergarten and 24 in 1st grade.

We're another school that has a very low student to teacher ratio. My DS is in the Pre-School [program at our school(Free to disabled children and regular education 4 year olds) 14 kids in his class plus 2 teachers(1 reg ed, 1 disabled) and 2 aides (1 reg ed 1 disabled)

My DD is in 1st grade - she has 14 kids in her class as well - DS is in 3rd grade and he has 15 kids. The largest class to teacher ratio they have is a class with 17 kids in it.

As far as school supplies- we are asked to provide a backpack for our kids- nothing else... The rest is paid for by our insanely high property taxes and PTA fund raisers.

 

[EthansMom]

Papa,

Do you or your wife attend your PTA/PTO meetings? At ours, the fundraising and budget stuff all gets discussed (raising funds for maintenance on the Playground, fundraisers, PTO spending, etc...). It can be pretty eye-opening.

At our small school, the PTO has had a few good fundraising years and has purchased all school supplies for the kids the last few years. Once in a great while, the teacher might ask for something to be sent in (tissues, paper cups for drinking out of the sink, craft supplies). I'm always happy to send in something.

Because our PTO pays for the school supplies, they keep (at the school) the reusable school supplies (scissors, rulers, pencil boxes) that are still in good repair and we only buy a few of the reusable items and then all new consumables (crayons, folders, pens, erasers). Our PTO's spending this fall for school supplies was less than $10 per child.

Also, the PTO gives each teacher a stipend of $600 to spend on school supplies that might otherwise come out of their pockets. There's also a small fund for Room Mom's to spend on holiday parties.

At our school, the PTO pays for all cultural & enrichment activities, all field trips, and the playground equipment (erection of the original playscape, maintenance of it, balls & jumpropes for the kids).

I, too, would prefer not to be nickel and dimed with little fundraisers. Send me a letter once a year asking for $X to cover my child's portion of the budget and I'd be a happy woman. Some of our fundraisers are a LOT of work and raise relatively little money, when compared with the number of hours people put into them.

If you have any concerns about how the money is being raised or spent, you might be able to get more information by attending a PTO meeting and/or talking to your daughters' teachers.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Papa,

Do you or your wife attend your PTA/PTO meetings? At ours, the fundraising and budget stuff all gets discussed (raising funds for maintenance on the Playground, fundraisers, PTO spending, etc...). It can be pretty eye-opening.

No. I work nights and my wife doesn't get home til 7 or 8 PM.... that is why we volunteer so much for day time stuff.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but what gets me are the constant demands that we volunteer for one thing or the other. DH and I both work a lot and we can't just run up to wherever to staff a booth. They really get angry when we don't though. DH is trying to work in some hours now but it's harder for me because my company basically doesn't allow unplanned absenteeism.

DS is in wrestling and the last email we got really irked a few people. It basically stated that all parents agreed to volunteer for so many hours when the kids signed up (really?) and if we didn't we weren't doing what was required. One parent responded that if it was required it wasn't volunteering but whatever.

Anyway, rant over. Just wait for those days PD.

 

[agentpleakley]

OP: I have to agree that most months I feel like I am paying private school tuition for my kids to attend public school. Here is a brief break down of expenses:

1st month of school: supplies $100 per child
Workbook/Book fees per child: $30
Teacher's wish list (last year it was DVD player): $50-100 per child
Snack week (2x per year per child): $70 - 85 per snack week
Donations/ in lieu of selling: $200 per child
Misc monthly expenses - classroom supplies (paper towels/etc) $25
Other things: I just bought a microwave for DS's class -- $85

I added it up -- in October I spent close to $750 at my kids' public school.

We have community supplies to. This doesn't bother me as I know going in -to by specifically what is on the teacher's list.

 

[EthansMom]

No. I work nights and my wife doesn't get home til 7 or 8 PM.... that is why we volunteer so much for day time stuff.

It's difficult when you can't make the PTO meetings. Does your PTO send out the meeting minutes to all parents? (Ours does.) If so, reading that might help you get an idea of where the money is going. If not, contact the PTO President or Secretary, tell them you aren't able to make the meetings, but would like to find out about stuff going on at the school and ask for a copy of the meeting minutes.

 

[maelstrom]

I don't know what those school taxes are used for, but in my district, they certainly aren't used for new textbooks, desks, chairs, chalkboards, lockers, or any kind of supplies. Teachers have been complaining as long as I can remember about having to pay out-of-pocket for things like chalk, folders, construction paper, pencils, crayons, etc. Some of the textbooks at my high school were the same ones that were there when my dad was in high school (I graduated in 2003 and he graduated in 1976). When I was in elementary school, they were asking parents to donate things like tissues, because otherwise we'd have no tissues in the classroom. My mom always hated this kind of thing; she had no problem donating, but on her own terms, not practically being forced. She'd bring in art supplies that I no longer used at home to give to my first grade teacher for use in her class, long after I'd left elementary school. And she wouldn't have gone for this "communal" crap either. My mother bought my supplies for ME, not for everyone else. It's unfortunate that some families cannot afford to give their kids the needed supplies for school, but that shouldn't be my mother's problem. I, personally, had no problem sharing my crayons or whatever, but they were MINE, and they went back in MY desk at the end of the day.

Reason #76870668 that I will homeschool any hypothetical future children.