School Districts Nationwide Implement Controversial 'Pay To Play' Fees

An Ohio school district is the latest to implement a controversial "pay to play" policy, reports The Wall Street Journal. Medina Senior High, faced with budget cuts and repeated rejection of proposals to increase taxes, has started charging students for, well, just about everything. After-school sports, clubs, electives and even required courses such as Spanish all carry a price tag.

The Dombi family is feeling the strain; education and activities for their four children racked up a bill of $4,446.50 this year. And even then, they had to make some tough choices -- their oldest daughter had to forgo choir as it would cost an additional $200.

"It's high school," Ms. Dombi told The Wall Street Journal. "You're supposed to be able to try different things and see what you like."

In a recent editorial, the Los Angeles Times questions the constitutionality of similar fees in California.

Charging fees to students to offset budget cuts is not legal, just as it would not be legal to announce that in an effort to make ends meet, schools will no longer accept students of Filipino descent, or girls. Student fees deny opportunities to low-income students and put them at an academic disadvantage. Nearly 30 years ago, the California Supreme Court reached exactly that conclusion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/30/school-districts-nationwide_n_867223.html

graduate, you should not have to pay extra for it. I could see for extracurricular activities. but then, those that can't afford to pay for it.... colleges aren't going to care that it cost extra when you apply for entrance. you need all kinds of crap to put on an application if you want to get in. of course, not that you will be able to afford to send your kids to college now that you just forked over all that money for public high school. uggh. this is depressing me.

at least a Catholic one, lol. Pretty sick story.

Our property taxes are split between County/Town and School. The school portion is considerably larger. Annually the total is around $4,000-- a little more or less depending on the tax year. The amount is determined by the value of the home I think (the assessor's office is a popular place for people to "discuss" their tax bill).
Our house is under 1500 sq ft. The larger homes pay more. If you live in a different township-- the village is located in Salina township for example-- their taxes are a little less. But I believe the school tax is determined about the same rate for everyone. Senior citizens get some kind of exemption or discount.

We don't have a lot of extra fees. Our buses transport the kids who go to private schools and their parents don't pay any extra fees either (after all, they are still paying the school tax).

Other states and districts do things differently. Eg, my brother in TN pays about $800 a year in property taxes, considerably less than I do. Their schools are funded by sales taxes I believe. There is no income tax there either to supplement state aid. He has to transport his own kids within the same district if they do not attend the "home school." I have done a comparison and their parochial schools are 30% more expensive than ours tuition wise.