School fees

[McKelly]

We pay $60.00 in registration fees per child for middle and elementary. High school students pay $145.00. No bussing fees..........yet.

 

[Becky2005]

Looks normal to me. Here it is about $87 for grade schoolers and unless you are over 1.5 miles from the school -- IF bussing is an option it's about $600/year.

Once you get into the higher grades it's easily $200 - $300/year for enrollment fees.

 

[cabanafrau]

In our district there are no school fees for elementary and no transportation fees...but we are the last state that doesn't have privatized bus systems. I feel that the fees for transportation will be coming because our illustrious leader (Governor Nikki Haley) wants to change our bus system!! :-(

The last state, or the last district in your state?

 

[scrapquitler]

No enrollment fees, bus fees, book fees or any of that here in my CT district.

The only fees we have are: there is a fee for AP classes (I think it covers the cost of the AP testing, not sure exactly how much it is) and a sports fee for varsity sports (something like $150 per sport, per student, and there is a family maximum payment, and it CAN be waived)

I wonder about the districts you all mention with book fees, transportation fees, etc. What if a family can't afford that???

 

[okeydokey]

People yell and scream about paying taxes. They yell and scream about paying fees. Then they yell and scream about decreased services, too many kids in a classroom, cutbacks in bus service. The money has to come from somewhere.

 

[luvavacation]

Illinois - school district tax on property bill for an average home in district, with average taxes, school portion - approx. $7,200. We live in a far, far suburb of Chicago, amidst the farm fields.

High school fee (public school, fees at registration for every school) - 2011 fee was $365.

Books are extra. You pay for each book.

You must buy the lesson planner the high school offers. The hall passes are in the lesson planner. Planner is "only" $10.

Every science class has extra fees, as do extracurriculars and clubs. If your student is in the honours program, the fees are even higher. I am glad my children have been in the honours program, but dear Lord I hate those fees!

Sports are $85 per sport. Uniforms are extra. Team events and registration to the finals (if the team makes it) are also extra.

The district owns its own busses. I assume the bus fee is either in the registration fee or in our property taxes. Yippee.

There are about 4,000 students in the high school. This is a very large district, but also one of the worst districts for test scores, with a very large minority population. However, because the school is so large, it offers a lot of opportunities for good students. Due to a grant from a local organization that wanted to help students succeed, my eldest graduated with almost a full year of first-year college courses transfered to her University, at no cost to us (other than school fees). No grant for the youngest child, but at least she has lots of AP courses to choose from.

Also, since the State of IL is still behind on payments (which the school district reminds us of on the website and in every email), there are often "extra" fees for innocuous things that are supposed to cover shortages.

Oh, how I hate IL. I can't wait until my DD graduates and I move out of this state!

Oh, and one more thing - State of IL did away with the writing portion of the ACT this year to save money. The schools my child is looking at all require the writing portion. Joy of joys, my child will be taking the ACT three times, twice with writing, so she has a change to get a great writing score. We get to pay for those extra tests, too. I hate Illinois.

 

[taitai]

We pay for busing. It is free if you live a certain distance from the school and if you don't, you have to pay. It is capped at $300 for a family.

We pay for school supplies. We pay a classroom party fee.

 

[piglet too]

Like a PP mentioned, in a lot of Illinois school districts, there are high fees PLUS high property tax. Our state is behind on giving schools the monies that are promised, and this is after cutting a lot of the funding the used to provide.

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

I was surprised about school fees too. In fact, I posted on here about it a few months back. I'm in South Carolina and we pay $20 general fee and extra fees for certain classes, gym, art, music, AVID, etc. There are the usual "manadatory fun" field trips : $65 to Medieval Times, $80 to Carowinds. Orchestra is the one that's killing me right now, but I know she doesn't HAVE to do that. $20 for the class, $40 for the class instrument fee (so she doesn't have to drag her cello back and forth), $50 a month to rent a cello.

I don't think there's a bus fee, but I drive her.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

No fees for public school or bussing here.

Only thing is if the child plays a school sport (middle school or above) there is a fee. That just started this past year and its very low. We paid I think around $30 for DS to play basketball for the middle school.

I never heard of fees for public school until I read it hear on the Dis. There are no districts around here that I know of that charge fees.

 

[Allison]

Yes, we have always paid book fees at registration. That's standard in my state.

Busing is free if you live a certain number of miles from the school, if you live closer than that, you pay a bus fee.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Our school does not charge a transportation fee yet but I have heard talk about it. I drive my children to and from school anyway so it wouldn't effect me.

They also do not charge a fee to attend unless you live outside of our district, which a lot of people do because of our beautiful lake community. Those families have to pay $2500.00 per child per year. Some of them are grandfathered in and are exempt from the fee. It has only been in place for about 4 or 5 years now.

We have the regular school supplies list and most of those items are turned into the school.

They have different fees like lab fees and other things through out the year, but they are normally less than $20.00 each. Most around the $5.00 range.

We have club fees, and they have killed me this year. Some clubs take small trips too, another added expense.

One thing that they do offer here that I find fantastic is that our school gives away a "Gate way to Education" scholarship for any student who has a certain GPA. That student can attend our local Jr. College free for two years as long as the maintain a good GPA. My DD is taking advantage of that right now, before transferring to a four year college.

 

[manning]

Had an interesting conversation with a senior once.

She said everyone should pay taxes to maintain the school. people under 65 should in addition pay adminitrative cost to run the school.

Asked to explain why she said anyone wanting children should be prepared to pay for their education. She said she did this in the way of sending her kids to private school.

If this is feasible, I have no idea.

 

[Tralliam]

We have a few fees, but that's because we are at a charter school. No transportation is offered.

In prior years when we were at regular public schools, we had to buy school supplies and party fees, but nothing for transportation. It was covered by property taxes.

As some PP have stated check what the property tax rate is. They may have low taxes and increased fees to allow those that choose charter/private or those without kids to not pay for a service they don't use. Kind of like a way to do vouchers without doing vouchers.

 

[deserrai]

I'm in north Florida; never heard of any fees for public school or buses. Is there some sort of scholarship for these fees for the poor? I grew up extremely poor and there is no way my mother could afford a bus fee. We usually didn't even have a car, so I would not have been able to get to school. I'm thinking there has to be some kind of exemption for lower income families. Just curious.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Had an interesting conversation with a senior once.

She said everyone should pay taxes to maintain the school. people under 65 should in addition pay adminitrative cost to run the school.

Asked to explain why she said anyone wanting children should be prepared to pay for their education. She said she did this in the way of sending her kids to private school.

If this is feasible, I have no idea.

Guess it's different where you live. Here in NJ at least in my area everybody regardless of age already pays school taxes. Doesn't matter if you have no kids or 20 kids. You pay school taxes.

My school taxes are over 6K per year. It is built into my property taxes.

 

[hereyago]

Pay for the books? That is crazy. 1) a school should always have to provide for books, because it's part of the education process. 2) are the books Brand spanking new, cause if I am paying for a book, it better bet brand spanking new with that new book smell and do you keep it after wards? if so, who needs a 4th grade Science book.

 

[Kae]

Pay for the books? That is crazy. 1) a school should always have to provide for books, because it's part of the education process. 2) are the books Brand spanking new, cause if I am paying for a book, it better bet brand spanking new with that new book smell and do you keep it after wards? if so, who needs a 4th grade Science book.

No we don't get to keep the books and most times they are not new books. We pay 96 for DD about 3 to 7 for field trips & 130 for DS & 10 for gym uniform. DS starts HS new year so it will be more for books & 50 per sport, plus concert band uniform,. And we will pay for summer school DS is taking gym in Summer School so he can stay in Band, no extra room in his schedule. If you are on reduced or free lunch you don't pay for any of the above.

Kae

 

[daughtersrus]

We are looking at moving into a new school district next year at of state at our current school we never had transportation fees or enrollment fees

instructional materials fees:are 75.00 dollar per student
transportation fees are 200.00 I'm not sure if that per student or not.

Is this high or normal? I was shocked in our area we don;t have these types of fee.

Most of the school districts here (suburbs of Chicago) have school fees. The list is quite long. Transportation if free if you live more than 1 1/2 miles from school. Our district will provide bus transportation if you live withing walking distance at a cost but only if there is a bus with open seats going past your house. They will not reroute the bus to put a new stop in.

Edited to add...

I'm in north Florida; never heard of any fees for public school or buses. Is there some sort of scholarship for these fees for the poor? I grew up extremely poor and there is no way my mother could afford a bus fee. We usually didn't even have a car, so I would not have been able to get to school. I'm thinking there has to be some kind of exemption for lower income families. Just curious.

Here, if you qualify for free or reduced lunch program, the school fees are adjusted. If you live within 1 1/2 miles of the school, they will not adjust the bus fee. You would either need to pay the full cost, walk or provide your own transportation.

 

[JLiz]

What happens if you are not on free or reduced lunch but refuse to pay? Do they not register your child? Not give them a book? Withhold final grades?