Two weeks ago I received a notice in the mail from Valley View School District listing school the registration fees for my children. The letter was very vague, and I wasn't exactly sure what the fees were for. I thought, my kids are already registered. I haven't moved, and I haven't switched schools. What's this fee?
And by the way, I'm still paying for summer camp.
I called the school and an administrative assistant told me that the fees were for printing cost such photo copies, paper and workbooks. Then I thought, they really shouldn't call it a "registration fee"; they should call it a "supply fee." But they couldn't call it that, because then parents would ask: then why am I running around town buying school supplies.
There are about 500 students at my local elementary school. If $40.00 is collected for each child, that comes to $20,000. Does the school really need $20,000 for photocopies?
Ordinarily, I would not question a school fee. But in this economy and in the spirit of conservation, I think the district should find better ways to conserve and not put unnecessary pressure on families. At the beginning of the school year, there are so many out-of-pocket expenses for parents. There are school clothes, new shoes, a long list of school supplies, book bags, lunch money, and perhaps before and aftercare cost.
If a family has multiple children, perhaps they should pay one fee for a household and not for each child. A family with three children is looking at $120 in fees. I would be interested in know exactly how schools are spending these fees. Are they using recycled ink cartridges and paper? Are they printing on both sides of the paper? I noticed that whenever I receive mail from the administration to my home, letters come in two different envelopes, one for each of my children. This is double the cost of postage and paper. That's wasteful. And I'm sure I'm not the only family that's experiencing duplication.
Registration fees haven't increased in 15 years, according to a press release from the school district. However, this year the board voted to increase fees for this year as well as next year. This is what families are asked to pay:
High School: will increase from $120 to $135 in school year 2009-2010 and $150 in 2010-11
Middle School: will increase from $85 to $90 in year 2010-2011 and $100 the year after. Their last increase was in 2003.
Elementary School: will increase from $30 to $40 in 2009-10 and $50 in 2010-11
Kindergartener: will pay $30 next year and $40 the year after.
I think holding to the same level is a good thing, but what about looking at ways to reduce the fee. In Chicago parents don't pay registration fees at all. And our current economy is worst than it was in 1993. There are more parents out of work. So even though it hasn't increased, that does nothing for a family if parents are out of work. I say not only look for ways to prevent an increase, look at ways to decrease.
The board should really take a hard look at parents and consider what they're expenses are at the beginning of the school year. It's a really tough time for families. This is 1993. It's worst.
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Debbie Lively is an award-winning journalist, novelist and Bolingbrook mother of two. She also instructs people in the art of writing.
The total fees for Indian Prairie 204 this year are:
Grades Registration Technology Total
1/2 day K 35 10 45
all day K-5 70 10 80
6-8 90 25 115
9-12 100 30 130
Of course that does not include consumable workbooks used in some high school courses ($9-$72), lab fees for certain classes ($3-$25), athletic fees($50 for 6-8, $80 for 9-12), and Driver's Education ($200).
And then of course with the registration materials, you are asked for fees if you want to join the PTA, the Booster Club, Band Parents Organization, pay for a yearbook for your child, and on and on.
It is getting crazy isn't it? However, I have to say, not that both my kids are in college, I would go back to paying those high school fees again in an instant. College really hits the pocketbook hard!
I can assure you through personal experience that there is a massive amount of paper used by the school district each year. Each year for registration the high school sends out a mailing to incoming freshmen (usually about 1000 kids each year) that contains about 15 pages of materials. All three other grades get a notification regarding registration, so thats as much as 3000 more sheets of paper going out. Not including envelopes for all of that.
And what about those packets teachers hand out to help your kid with their multiplication tables? What about the workbooks for the high school biology classes? Or the Constitution study guides the middle school history classes are getting? Do you think those are really unnecessary?
As for combining the letters sent to families, the district must weight the money saved in such efforts against the cost of having one or more staff members take the time to go through each school's roster and group families together. Perhaps the saved paper outweighs the time spent, but it is unlikely, in my opinion.