School fees gripe

[lindamg]

Okay - I'm joining the speechless crowd. I teach third grade in Florida, in a Title I school (high percentage of free and reduced lunch students) which happens to be in a county that is actually quite wealthy (by Florida standards). The only school "fee" we have is a requested $10 fee each year. In my class last year three students paid out of 25. There are no charges for registration, books, supplies or anything else, and the kids keep their workbooks at the end of the year. If we go on a field trip (one per year is all the school can afford) we agonize over whether to ask our students to pay a $2 admission fee, or just find a free field trip.

We do send home a supply list at the end of each year for the next grade level, and then each teacher can adjust it to suit her needs at the beginning of the year. My list is a little long, but it includes things like a rain poncho because we are in a portable (and this is Florida!) As a classroom teacher in my school I get $250 for the school year. That has to cover all my supplies for 25 children. Anything I need for the classroom: dry erase markers, board eraser, paperclips, staples, tape, folders, construction paper, envelopes, and so on; anything extra I plan to do: art materials, special projects, special writing paper, paint, clay, etc. and anything else I want use: class set of novels, maps for each student to color, jump ropes and balls for recess. You can see that the money won't go far and I often spend much more of my own money. Last year I was even in the position of having to buy toilet paper, soap, paper towels and a pencil sharpener for my classroom because they were not provided. Oh, and a trash can and a clock!

Somehow there has to be a middle ground of getting what is necessary for the students without burdening the parents or expecting it of the teachers. On the other hand (since I spent the morning racking up charges on my credit card for the start of school in three weeks) the schools that charge $100 fees for each third grade student sounds pretty good right now!

 

[Az Pirates]

We don't have required fees here, but you should see the list of 'donated items' needed from each child to start the year.
The parent organization is also constantly pushing one fund raiser after another - yuk!

I do pay $40.00 a month 'facilities use and maintenance' fee because my high school daughter participates on a school team. That is in addition to all the other fees associated (which I expected I would have to pay) ie: uniform, training camps, travel expenses, etc.
I think that is ridiculous. Every time the team wins an award the school makes sure it gets recognition - yet we have to pay to use the building for a school team to practice??

Guess they are looking to supplement funding in really 'creative' ways!

 

[dturner]

Boy, am I getting an education reading this thread.

Here in Texas, they hand out school supplies list and each student has to bring in what's on the list. In elementary school, all the supplies are lumped together, no one gets to keep their school supplies. I looked at the required list today for 3rd grade and they have dry erase markers on the list. The only thing I can think of is these must be for the teacher.

Glad I homeschool, but I do spend around $200.00 getting textbooks.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by dturner
Boy, am I getting an education reading this thread.

Here in Texas, they hand out school supplies list and each student has to bring in what's on the list. In elementary school, all the supplies are lumped together, no one gets to keep their school supplies. I looked at the required list today for 3rd grade and they have dry erase markers on the list. The only thing I can think of is these must be for the teacher.

Glad I homeschool, but I do spend around $200.00 getting textbooks.

Actually I usde dry erase markers for the students in a reveiw game. A group of students has a small dry erase board ($1 store kind) We do a review, and each group has to write the answer down... and then they erase..

So it could be for the students. I know I use them!

 

[disneymom3]

Dry earse markers--yep I use them for my kids as a homeschooler and I got the idea from my sister who teaches public school in CA, so that makes sense to me.

Wow! People in MN complain about the schools and taxes and all, but there are no fees that I know of other than sports and such. (Extra stuff.) We did have to pay for field trips when DD was in Kindergarten and bring all of our own supplies (well, really community supplies) including kleenex, paper plates, and napkins. I do know that the school through the parent organization will pay for any child who can't pay for a field trip. I had asked about this as one of DD friend's was obviously from a very poor family and I was worried about him at the end of the year with three trips that cost money. I approached the principal because we could have afforded to pay for him and my DD at the time. He said I could make a donation to the parent org, but not for a specific child which was fine with me and I did.

The thing that blows me away is that here, they keep building more and more houses, but there are no schools for those kids to go to and in order to get the $$$ for the schools, they have to get the voters to pass levies and bonds. In CA, the cost of building new schools is built into the fees that builders and developers pay which seems to make sense to me. Although, their housing prices are outrageous there!

 

[piglet too]

Originally posted by totalia
Interesting.


I do have a question though... why, if you knew they were going to ask for this money, haven't you been saving it up since last year?

Yes, I understand bills and stuff, but if you had been saving it since the last time they went to school, a little bit at a time, it would be paid for already.

Well, first of all I did not know for certain what the fees would be until this spring. That is when we hit the financial situation that we are in. It is done now, but for 5 nmonths, DH was only bringing honme just under $1000 a month, so we could did not have any extra money to put aside.

 

[piglet too]

Well, I dropped off the papers. Now the dstrict office will decide if we can have a waiver or not. We will pay them, just not now! The fees are lower here than they were at the old school, but only by $30. To think these fees are on top of taxes and the supplies that I still have to buy. It seems that a lot of schools (in the south suburbs at least) have fees of at least $75 per kid. My sisters went up from $75 to $175 this year when the refferendum did not pass.

My only other problem with this district is that the kids are required to have special shoes for gym that are left at the school all year. Not that big of a deal, it just adds to the amount I need to spend when I really don't have the money right now.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Fees in a public school?! At my school we pay for nothing. Literally. We used to have to buy bus passes to get to the high schoo but that was voted out right before I started my freshman year. Which is good since it was $90 per semester. My friends don't even pay fees for sports, unless they lose their uniforms, or if they want to buy the sweatshirt at the end of the season. All of the money for the schools comes from taxes. And we have a lousy tax system here in the state. Actually NH is being sued over it by my school district and another district because of the tax system but that's beside the point.
We have some serious funding issues, but often teachers pick up the tab, or we have fundraisers to raise money. We even go without heat from the first calendar day of spring until the last day of school, even in blizzards. But we've never been charged fees. I've never even heard of that before I read this thread. I think that's really sickening and unfair. That's why people pay taxes. This is rediculous. People have a right to free education. Is this constitutional?

 

[powellrj]

In Indiana we pay school taxes, book fees ($100- $250) per child, HUGE supply lists including 7 packages of swiffers per child in middle school, plus we pay for the bus and entrance fees for any field trip they take. Our book fees go to pay for books, (but you don't always get your own book, sometimes you have to share). 96% of our taxes go to pay for teacher/staff. You are then given lists of things to "donate" to the school plus there are several fund raisers every year to pay for things like toner for the copy machines. Then you add your fees you pay for any extra like music, sports, then you have to add things like shoes, special clothes and sports physicals, travel expense ( you make monthly band payments if you are in band). This one reason I went back to work full time. Not only do I have to get the kids in school in August, I have to buy licenese plates which will set me back another $300 and our cars are not brand new.

 

[bobcat]

Originally posted by Disney Ella
I never heard of this either. I thought the point of public schools was that the school was completely funded by taxes.

We only wish! I teach Family and Consumer Science and have a fee for my classes, as well as the other unified arts classes. We also have fees for workbooks and certain supplies from the academic classes but it usually is no more than $40. My kids have pay to play fees on top of basic fees.

I can't even imagine spending hundreds of dollars to send my kids to a public though.

 

[Otto's Doll]

WOW! I had no idea that you had to pay fees to attend public school. Unbelievable. I grew up in NY where you bought supplies at the beginning of the school year, but that was it. I live in PA now, and my kids don't usually even need to buy school supplies beyond a few notebooks and pencils! We pay no fees at all, except registrations for sports (which is waived for us, as DH is activated for the war). I know in NY there is a fee now for Driver's Ed, but here Driver's Ed (classroom) is given in 10th grade, and again in senior year (driving time).

 

[mickeyminnie]

I think what people are failing to realize is that in plenty of areas school taxes (property taxes in our case) are already so high that people on fixed incomes who own their homes cannot afford to pay the taxes to live there. So when the schools need more money for unfunded mandates, updated text books, computers, decent student teacher ratios, etc; where are they to turn.

We have a state law about school spending caps, the schools suffer because they class sizes get larger, special classes are cut such as multiple choices in foreign languages, advanced classes are cut, arts are cut, physical ed classes are cut to the bare minimum. Where does it stop?

At least with fees the schools have the opportunity to continue and fund some of these opportunities and not raise taxes. I agree with user fees, I understand where they are coming from and that the implementation of them may protect the schools ability to provide better basic educaton, not to mention any sort of extras.

 

[thelittlemermaid]

We have to pay a workbook fee of $30, at least that is what it was last year. Will probably be more this year. On Aug 3, like most other schools here in OH, ours has a levy they want to get passed. I really don't see that happening. I have heard the experssion of "Little Mexico" be used, here in this town it's like a "Little Florida" nothing but old people {senior citizens to be PC}.

Anyways our property taxes are really high and I can see why they are concearned, but the way I see it is, when my generation is their age and our kids are running the town, I can see it now. Things will be so messed up and things will get even worse cause our kids didn't receive the education that they deserve.

Back when they sent their kids off to school I am sure they never had to worry about if the schools had enough money or not to give their kids an education. If this levy doesn't pass, the school board is cutting busing all together, going to cut teaching positions, and have a pay to play fee. Public school shouldn't be able to say you have to pay a fee for your child{ren} to go to school. If the schools around here start that, since I stay home, I will just start homeschooling. That money is alot better off in my pocket then in their's. But I also understand that there are parents who can't home school, but they still shouldn't have to pay for their kids to get an education.

It seems to me that is basically paying the schools to watch your kids like a babysitter. I sure hope if you have to pay a *HUGE* fee like the OP talked about and some others have posted, that you don't have to go and buy supplies. For that price, supplies should be included.

Things need to change and the money that keeps going overseas needs to start staying here and take care of our "family , the USA" first. Amercian money needs to start taking care of Americans first! Sorry, I had to vent that out! LOL!!! Feel alot better now. LOL!!!!

 

[JerseyJanice]

Call me naive, but I've never heard of "fees" to attend public school.

I thought the U.S.A. guaranteed a free, public education to every child. Whatever happened to that?

How discouraging. We're switching to public school next year after three years in private (where they bleed you every which way, every chance they get).

I've been looking forward to a break for my wallet (at least until high school, if not college), but now I wonder. Between this thread and the school supplies "debate", it seems we'll keep getting hammered. (And I have only one child!)

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by thelittlemermaid


Anyways our property taxes are really high and I can see why they are concearned, but the way I see it is, when my generation is their age and our kids are running the town, I can see it now. Things will be so messed up and things will get even worse cause our kids didn't receive the education that they deserve.

:

I am curious as to what people here consider high property taxes?...I get a break in mine so they are just around 6000 a year but I have neighbors that just moved in who are paying over 8000 and people on the corner who put an extension on who pay 10,500 a year. We dont have any school fees but they do send home a long suppy list that includes a box of tissues for the kids since the school does not provide them....I would think for that money in property tax that tissues would be their problem but they are not.

 

[Mskanga]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
I am curious as to what people here consider high property taxes?...I get a break in mine so they are just around 6000 a year but I have neighbors that just moved in who are paying over 8000 and people on the corner who put an extension on who pay 10,500 a year. We dont have any school fees but they do send home a long suppy list that includes a box of tissues for the kids since the school does not provide them....I would think for that money in property tax that tissues would be their problem but they are not.

I guess it all depends on the area where you are at, our school taxes alone ( excluding property ) are almost $3000 a year and I only have a 1300 sq' house on a third of an acre. Yes , the size of our house determines the amount of taxes we pay.
This may not be a lot to many people, but it is for us living in a place where the average pay is not more than $9-10 an hour. The majority of people have to work outside of the area to make a decent salary.
In our school we do not pay any fees for anything other than field trips. We do supply our kids with the basics, pencils, pens and all that other stuff. I don't know how it is going to be in intermediate school, I will find that out next year when my dd goes there, but I am sure there will be more fees to cover.
I can tell you one thing, if they ever imposed fees for anything, most people would probably not pay.

 

[H&Hmommy]

I had no idea that not all schools charge fees. I live in Indiana and we pay Book Rent and other fees. Each grade is over $100.00. My daughter goes to the same school that my husband and I went to so we had no idea it was any different other places. I do remember that when I was younger and my mom had to pay for my brothers and me she had a hard time and we would take checks trough out the year to pay our fees. Last year when my daughter would bring home news letters it would state fees HAVE to be payed by a certain date. I'm not sure what they do if a parent can't pay. I'm thankfull that we can payand my daughter does get a excellent education.
Kim

 

[dizagain]

Wow! I haven't ever had to pay a fee before. We pay for school supplies, and often a small fee for a newspaper for the kids or something. Now, we DO get hit HARD from PTA...of course, that's voluntary, but they try to mask it as mandatory whenever they can. I do support PTA and participate when I can as they provide so much for the school and teachers. I hear that Middle and High School children do have some fees, but I'm thinking it's extra-curricular and not just for the right to go to school. I have also heard that PTA fundraisers are mandatory at those levels and you can opt to pay a fee to not participate...hmmm.

To the OP...good luck with your fees! I know that at certain times of the year for us, an extra few hundred dollars would not be easy to find.

 

[MI mom of 3]

In Michigan the Dept of Education says schools can charge a fee for extra curricular activities but anything required for school including instruments, supplies, and uniforms must be supplied by the district.

Of course the schools still send home long lists of supplies they want your kids to bring.

I work in my kids school so I know exactly how strapped the districts are for cash. I never know if I will have a job until I get an invitation to the back to school breakfast the week before school starts. So I don't mind buying supplies.

You should see us going through the garbage the last days of school when the kids are cleaning out their lockers. They throw away unopened packages of paper, pencils, etc. We collect it all and save it for kids who need it the next year.

We have also gone to a pay to participate in sports which I gladly pay. But I would draw the line at paying to use the books. That is taking it too far.