Guest guest Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 Simple, it's budget cuts. The districts have less state and federal aide coming their way. The local taxes can only go so high and people will vote down budgets that add too much to their taxes. So, the schools can keep only the core programs that they are required to have. Extra programs (sports, art and music) are the programs that require the additional funds and so the parents are asked (required) to pay fees in order for those prigrams tp remain in the schools. After school sports have an incredible expense just paying for the required insurance, and that is why many school find even popular sports programs being cut. In our district they have stopped bussing children who live within a certain distance from all the schools. Those kids are now expected to walk to and from school no matter what the weather. The age for this walking to start is 2nd grade. No aides escorting the kids, they are referred to as " walkers " and in the elementary schools they are released early with aides watching only until they leave the school's property. We have a fund raising organization for our dsitrict called Arts In Education. It is a parent run group that raises the money needed to fund the art and music programs. Tight money means that we parents will pay for things ... I won't do a political rant now even though I have the urge. I simply refer to this as my " thanks to the s " moment. (Pataki, our governor and GW hisself) Best to all Jill In a message dated 8/23/2004 9:52:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, enriquez16@... writes: We pay nothing except for food. I just don't see how under Free and Appropriate education you can go to public school and be expected to pay. If you can't afford it your child can't go to school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 Jill, I understand if the parents are asked to pay for extra stuff like music and stuff like that, however some people are saying they are being asked to pay for registration fees to attend a public school and if the parents don't pay the kids don't get a diploma. That is not FAPE. Re: school fees Simple, it's budget cuts. The districts have less state and federal aide coming their way. The local taxes can only go so high and people will vote down budgets that add too much to their taxes. So, the schools can keep only the core programs that they are required to have. Extra programs (sports, art and music) are the programs that require the additional funds and so the parents are asked (required) to pay fees in order for those prigrams tp remain in the schools. After school sports have an incredible expense just paying for the required insurance, and that is why many school find even popular sports programs being cut. In our district they have stopped bussing children who live within a certain distance from all the schools. Those kids are now expected to walk to and from school no matter what the weather. The age for this walking to start is 2nd grade. No aides escorting the kids, they are referred to as " walkers " and in the elementary schools they are released early with aides watching only until they leave the school's property. We have a fund raising organization for our dsitrict called Arts In Education. It is a parent run group that raises the money needed to fund the art and music programs. Tight money means that we parents will pay for things ... I won't do a political rant now even though I have the urge. I simply refer to this as my " thanks to the s " moment. (Pataki, our governor and GW hisself) Best to all Jill In a message dated 8/23/2004 9:52:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, enriquez16@... writes: We pay nothing except for food. I just don't see how under Free and Appropriate education you can go to public school and be expected to pay. If you can't afford it your child can't go to school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 Jill, I understand if the parents are asked to pay for extra stuff like music and stuff like that, however some people are saying they are being asked to pay for registration fees to attend a public school and if the parents don't pay the kids don't get a diploma. That is not FAPE. Re: school fees Simple, it's budget cuts. The districts have less state and federal aide coming their way. The local taxes can only go so high and people will vote down budgets that add too much to their taxes. So, the schools can keep only the core programs that they are required to have. Extra programs (sports, art and music) are the programs that require the additional funds and so the parents are asked (required) to pay fees in order for those prigrams tp remain in the schools. After school sports have an incredible expense just paying for the required insurance, and that is why many school find even popular sports programs being cut. In our district they have stopped bussing children who live within a certain distance from all the schools. Those kids are now expected to walk to and from school no matter what the weather. The age for this walking to start is 2nd grade. No aides escorting the kids, they are referred to as " walkers " and in the elementary schools they are released early with aides watching only until they leave the school's property. We have a fund raising organization for our dsitrict called Arts In Education. It is a parent run group that raises the money needed to fund the art and music programs. Tight money means that we parents will pay for things ... I won't do a political rant now even though I have the urge. I simply refer to this as my " thanks to the s " moment. (Pataki, our governor and GW hisself) Best to all Jill In a message dated 8/23/2004 9:52:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, enriquez16@... writes: We pay nothing except for food. I just don't see how under Free and Appropriate education you can go to public school and be expected to pay. If you can't afford it your child can't go to school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 In a message dated 9/1/2004 4:45:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, enriquez16@... writes: Jill, I understand if the parents are asked to pay for extra stuff like music and stuff like that, however some people are saying they are being asked to pay for registration fees to attend a public school and if the parents don't pay the kids don't get a diploma. That is not FAPE. , It is FAPE because the funds are required of any and all children participating in those districts. The dollar amounts mentioned in the emails are nothing compared to the actual costs of running the schools they attend so the parents are not footing the bill for their child's schooling. The fees are being used to offset costs, to replace lost or reduced funding. If all the parents are being asked to pay these fees, then that playing field is level -- everyone has to do it to get the education. Unless the state and federal governments actually act to fund programs like No Child Left Behind, many children will be left behind and their parents will be required to pay these fees. They can give names to education programs and talk about how great they'll be, but without funding it just won't happen. They're just hollow words. So it's still the same answer -- money. Budgets get cut and the funds have to come from somewhere. Some schools seem to be using the funds for workbooks and photocopying (book fees), others are using it to pay for office staff (registration fees). Ours uses it to pay for art/music programs because we're well enough funded for those other items. I know that without the parents organization there would be almost no art/music programs available. The school is barely covering the salaries of the art/music teachers now and is sharing their days between elemetary schools. Without the additional funds there would not be supplies for them to use in those classes. The answer is all funding. I'm hearing about these fees more recently as the state and federal budgets for education are cut. It all comes down to the funding. Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2004 Report Share Posted September 1, 2004 In a message dated 9/1/2004 4:45:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, enriquez16@... writes: Jill, I understand if the parents are asked to pay for extra stuff like music and stuff like that, however some people are saying they are being asked to pay for registration fees to attend a public school and if the parents don't pay the kids don't get a diploma. That is not FAPE. , It is FAPE because the funds are required of any and all children participating in those districts. The dollar amounts mentioned in the emails are nothing compared to the actual costs of running the schools they attend so the parents are not footing the bill for their child's schooling. The fees are being used to offset costs, to replace lost or reduced funding. If all the parents are being asked to pay these fees, then that playing field is level -- everyone has to do it to get the education. Unless the state and federal governments actually act to fund programs like No Child Left Behind, many children will be left behind and their parents will be required to pay these fees. They can give names to education programs and talk about how great they'll be, but without funding it just won't happen. They're just hollow words. So it's still the same answer -- money. Budgets get cut and the funds have to come from somewhere. Some schools seem to be using the funds for workbooks and photocopying (book fees), others are using it to pay for office staff (registration fees). Ours uses it to pay for art/music programs because we're well enough funded for those other items. I know that without the parents organization there would be almost no art/music programs available. The school is barely covering the salaries of the art/music teachers now and is sharing their days between elemetary schools. Without the additional funds there would not be supplies for them to use in those classes. The answer is all funding. I'm hearing about these fees more recently as the state and federal budgets for education are cut. It all comes down to the funding. Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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