Does your public school charge fees?

[Deleted]

www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110703/ARTICLES/110709967/1350?Title=Legislation-would-ban-many-public-school-fees

I was surprised to read that some schools are charging fees for classes, registration and textbooks. Sounds like college!

[zibazinski]

There are lab fees but it is asked not demanded. Textbook fees are because some kids never bother to return them or even use them the whole year. Unfortunately, the ones that pull this stunt get them for free anyway so it's a rather useless rule.

[Apple]

My son started going to a charter school last year (I paid for private school before that, the schools here just aren't the greatest). They (the charter school) charge $100 for registration and during the year they "request a donation" of $350 per student. The donation is tax deductable and not required, but it still kind of sucks. I'm one of those parents who will just write a check to the school for $50 though instead of trying to get DS to sell $200 worth of overpriced crap no one really needs to get that same $50 to the school. I put that on my deductions too. I haven't seen fees for books, but we've always turned our in, never lost them, don't know what they do with the kids that don't.

[sbcalimom]

When I was in high school in the late 90s we had fees for a variety of things but most of the ones I remember paying were for advanced classes. We had to pay for our own books in our AP classes but that was because we wrote in them and got to keep them. I think we also had to pay a small registration fee for the AP classes as well. In my science APs we did have to pay lab fees but I don't think in my normal ones we did. I don't remember any of the fees being that excessive though my mother made my father pay them on top of the child support just to be difficult.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

When I was in high school we had "shop cards" we would buy for $5.00 if we were taking a class like wood shop or photography. The card had values printed out on it that the teacher would punch out for materials that were used.

[973beachbum]

My DD is in HS and there are all sorts of fees for extra curricular activities. They can't charge for a regular class or a book for a regular class but they can charge a student's account if they lose a textbook or damage it.

I think ;D particpation fee for sports is $100 plus most fundraisers. Expensive sports like crew are even more. My DD is in band and because it is also a class they can't charge an actual particpation fee but man do they have charges for everything else. I really don't mind paying but I would rather it just be a set fee than all these disguised fees.

Truthfully I don't know where to draw the line. It is annoying to see how much the district pays for transportation and yet my kid's bus is mostly empty everyday. Maybe if people paid a small fee for the bus they would be more apt to actually use it when they signed up for it.

[Sharon]

My DD was in band and the fee every year was $200.00 plus fundraising. The budget for the band was $67,000 a year and the school district provided $5000. The school district even charged the band for school buses to transport the kids to events that the district said they had to attend.

I did have to buy a couple of books for AP classes. It was not mandatory but they did not have enough books for the class. I didn't mind and DD got to keep the book when she was done.

[Phoenix84]

I graduated from a public HS back in 2003 and there were fees back then. Since I wasn't the one paying them I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure there were textbook fees and lab fees.

[busymom]

There are all kinds of fees at both of my kid's schools, and that's just for the required classes.


So much for a "free" public education. Even the teachers buy all kinds of stuff for the classroom, because the district doesn't give them enough paper, etc. to teach their students.

[Deleted]

I teach, and busymom is right . . . teachers buy all kinds of stuff for the classroom. I'm not as bad as some of my colleagues, but there are some things that students have come to expect that you can't buy with state supply money (assuming the state is giving it, which they haven't the last couple of years.) Tissues, hand sanitizer, etc. are a good example. My classroom is a long way from the bathroom, and I don't want kids leaving for fifteen minutes to blow their noses. I actually bribe the kids to bring them . . . a homework pass in exchange for kleenexes. Since I don't give credit for late homework, it works. (They can only use one per quarter, and tissues are a $1 at the Dollar Store. It's a win/win since they are for them, and it gives them a "pass" if they want one. You can also earn one the "hard" way, which involves activities, so it's fair enough.)

Our school has fees for lockers, parking, etc. They ask for donations for the PTA. All of the extracurricular activities do fundraisers. AP classes have a fee that includes testing, but this is waived for free/reduced lunch students. Often teachers are hit on by the administration for things like calculators, etc., and we tend to be very generous. I've bought yearbooks and graduation supplies. The teachers even buried a low-income student who was killed in an automobile accident. That was the saddest check I ever wrote.

So when you complain about "greedy" teachers, etc., remember my post. A box of kleenexes or a package of notebook paper would be more appreciated than you can imagine. There are incredible bargains during the back-to-school season so share the wealth.

[wodehouse]

I don't think fees are anything new. My parents paid fees for me in grade school in the 1950's.

[dragonfly7]

Other than classes that had extracurricular activities and travel associated with them (FFA, FCCLA, Band, Choir), none of my high school's classes had explicitly stated fees. Providing our own classroom supplies and materials for projects was routine.