Update: Marcus Moore writes in the Gazette, Parents: School fees are illegal:

During a recent school board meeting, parent Rosanne A. Hurwitz asked the school system to refund $8 in fees for towels charged to her son, who attends Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring.

“Failure to pay this fee results in a financial obligation and students who do not pay this fee cannot participate in certain school activities, including graduation,” Hurwitz told the board. “While the Attorney General suggests parents appeal to the board, it is unconscionable to expect the families of our county to go through this process to obtain what is clearly their right.”

Though students are not denied access to classes, the school board’s policy is still illegal, said parent Janis Sartucci, an outspoken critic of the school system’s curricular fees.

“Where’s the money go?” Sartucci asked. “If this money is required to run the school system, why don’t we see it? If we are a revenue source for the school system, we should be in the budget documents, but we’re not.”

For my readers who are about to send your kids off to school, you should be aware that a storm is brewing over the fees you are about to be asked to pay for your children’s participation in the Montgomery County Public Schools curriculum. It is being argued that Maryland’s Constitution requires the school system to provide these courses for free (funded through taxation but otherwise not charged to individual students), and thus the fees being charged for credit courses — including such core requirements such as English, social studies and science — are unconstitutional.

One parent, Louis Wilen of Olney, contacted the State Attorney General’s office regarding these fees and received a response indicating that there likely is merit to this complaint. Parents Coalition, a political action committee, has posted this letter on their website; an OCR’d version is pasted in below.

The parents’ protest of these fees has been attracting some amount of media attention. WTOP’s Kate Ryan has done a couple of stories on this, including this one on the web. James Adams reported the story on Channel 4, and Channel 7 also has an article posted. Chris Core has also weighed in [mp3 link] on the matter in his “Core Values” commentary on WTOP. Quoting the Channel 7 story,

Clarksburg High School leads the list of local high schools with more than 200 different fees, and parent, Rosanne Hurwitz,says the fees are “a form of educational extortion….”

“The art fees are probably some of the worst,” said parent Louis Wilen, who added that “sometimes the materials are a little bit expensive, but that’s just part of the cost of running a school system.”

MCPS does not appear to be interested in backing down on these fees, which vary widely from school to school. Last Tuesday (8/19), they sent out a memo to principals throughout the system, providing background information on the official MCPS position on these fees. This memo was also posted on the Parents’ Coalition website as well, and I’ve OCR’d and pasted this in below as well.

As I read the MCPS position on these fees, it appears that they believe that, while they are required to provide, for free, the facilities, books and the equipment, they are within their right to charge the students for any consumables used in the class. Thus, a workbook that would be unusable by a subsequent student, or lab materials that are consumed during experiments, are fair game for charges. They also attempt to defuse some of the complaints by insisting that no one will be denied access to these classes based on an inability to pay. However, this generosity would seem to be beside the point if the issue is whether the fees are legal in the first place, and thus it comes across as evading the question. The point of this evasion is clearly to create confusion on the part of the reader between the ability to pay and the obligation to pay. These are two very different things, and MCPS knows this full well.

One thing I note in the memo is that, in the attachment entitled Summary of Board of Education Policy JNA, Curricular Expenses for Students, and Montgomery County Public Schools Regulation JNA-RA, Curricular Expenses for Students, they include the bullet item:

  • You may be contacted by persons who challenge or contradict our policy of curricular expenses for student fees. There may be individuals or organizations that attempt to tell you that no fees may be charged. This is their interpretation of the law.

This is a bothersome statement, which among other things makes clear that the attachment goes beyond just being a “summary” of official policy — I have read policies JNA and JNA-RA, and I find nothing in either of them about being contacted by persons challenging the policy. Moreover, the statement “This is their interpretation of the law” is clearly meant to disparage those who complain. But it doesn’t work here because (a) it is so clearly reflexive — MCPS’ counterargument is, after all, just their interpretation of the law, and (b) as I read the letter from the Attorney General’s office below, it would appear to be more than just some parents’ interpretation of the law that curricular fees are highly questionable.

Anyway, here is the letter from the Attorney General’s office, OCR’d from the PDF on the Parent’s Coalition website. Please let me know if you spot any transcription errors.

Louis Wilen
17101 MacDuff Avenue
Olney, MD 20832-2960

Dear Mr. Wilen:

Robert McDonald, Chief of Opinions in the Attorney General’s Office, referred your email of August 13,2008 to me for response. I am Principal Counsel to the Maryland State Department of Education.

You explain in your e-mail that Magruder High School in Montgomery County requires students to pay fees ranging from $5 to $40 for certain courses in Art, Business and Computer Science, English, Family and Consumer Science, Health and Physical Education, SAT Prep, Music, Science, and Technology Education. (See attached schedule). You have asked our Office to investigate and take action as warranted.

Over the course of years, this Office has issued Opinions and advice letters addressing the school fees issue. In 1987, the Attorney General opined:

[W]e cannot say whether Maryland courts would go as far as courts in some states in categorizing the activities that must be offered without charge. But, whatever the outer limits of Maryland’s “free public schools” guarantee, we are safe in saying that anything directly related to a school’s curriculum must be available to all without charge. To borrow the North Dakota Supreme Court’s formulation, whatever is an “integral part of the educational system” must be free. Cardiff v. Bismark Public School Disf., 263 N.W.2d 105, 113 (N.D. 1978) (Emphasis added).

72 Op. Att’y Gen. 262, 267 (1987).

That Opinion has formed the legal basis for several letters of advice. For example, on March 7, 1995, this Office advised Senator Barbara Hoffman that a Senate Bill allowing county school boards to charge students a fee for a driver education course offered during the regular school day would violate the “free public school” requirement of the State constitution.

On February 22, 1996, this Office advised Senator Thomas Mac Middleton that a legislative proposal allowing schools to charge fees for “non-academic type activities” could raise a substantial constitutional question. That letter of advice reviews case law from various states recognizing that the courts of Maryland have not ruled on the school fees issue.

In March, 2003, we responded to a question from a public charter school that was considering imposing a fee for full day kindergarten. At that time, only half-day kindergarten was mandatory. Yet, because kindergarten was a part of Maryland’s system of free public schools, we advised that, in our view, charging a fee for full day kindergarten would not be legally acceptable.

I am enclosing a copy of each of the letters and the Opinion described above.

While the Attorney General’s Office is not empowered to “take action” against a school’s fee structure, you may wish to file an appeal of this matter with the local superintendent. Pursuant to Md. Educ. Art. Code Ann. § 4-205, each county superintendent shall decide all controversies and disputes that involve: (i) the rules and regulations of the county board; and (ii) the proper administration of the county public school system. If you are not satisfied with the superintendent’s decision, you may appeal to the local school board and, thereafter to the State Board of Education, if you are not satisfied with the local board’s decision. Id. § 4-205(c)(3). The State Board of Education has the authority to decide this kind of issue and to direct the Montgomery County Board of Education to cease charging the fees that the State Board deems to be illegal.

I hope this information addresses your request and is helpful to you in pursuing this matter further if you wish to do so.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth M. Kameen I
Principal Counsel
Assistant Attorney General

cc: Dr. Jerry Weast (w/enclosures)
Judy Bresler, Esquire (w/enclosures)
Robert McDonald, Esquire (w/o enclosures)
Shanetta Paskel, Esquire (w/o enclosures)
Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick (w/o enclosures)
Jackie LaFiandra, Esquire (w/o enclosure)

Note that where it says “(Emphasis added)” in the above, such was inserted by the AG’s office in their letter to Mr. Wilen.

And here is the MCPS memo to principals, OCR’d from the PDF on the Parent’s Coalition website. Again, please let me know if you spot any transcription errors.

Office of School Performance
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Rockville, Maryland
August 19,2008

MEMORANDUM

To: All Principals
From: Stephen L. Bedford, Chief School Performance officer
Subject: ACTION REQUESTED: Student Curricular Fees

Summary

  • Recently there have been a number of questions regarding curricular expenses for students (student fees) from parents, members of the community, and media. These questions have been directed to individual schools, the Office of School Performance, and the Public lnformation Office. Generally, the questions are focused on the legality of charging fees for curricular expenses, such as supplemental materials and project/lab fees.
  • A summary of Board of Education Policy JNA, Curricular Expenses for Students, and Montgomery County Public Schools Regulation JNA-RA, Curricular Expenses for Students, is attached for your information and to ensure a consistent understanding of this policy and regulation. This summary provides clarification on curricular expenses and highlights those expenses that are allowable under Policy INA. Please remember. students must have reasonable access to supplemental materials and may not be penalized academically for their inability to pay for supplemental materials.

Action

Questions

  • If you have additional questions regarding curricular expenses or receive questions that you feel you cannot respond to, please contact your community superintendent.

SLB:bmk

Attachment

Copy to:
Executive Staff

Attachment

Summary of Board of Education Policy JNA, Curricular Expenses for Students, and Montgomery County Public Schools Regulation JNA-RA, Curricular Expenses for Students

  • Board of Education Policy JNA, Curricular Expenses for Students, and Montgomery County Public Schools Regulation JNA-RA, Curricular Expenses for Students. govern student course-related fees.
  • Project or lab fees may be charged. No student will be excluded from participation in any course requiring project or lab fees based on the inability to pay the fee.
  • You may be contacted by persons who challenge or contradict our policy of curricular expenses for student fees. There may be individuals or organizations that attempt to tell you that no fees may be charged. This is their interpretation of the law.
  • The Board of Education has approved fees under certain circumstances, and our policy is that students may be asked to purchase supplemental materials or provide project or lab fees.
  • Montgomery County Public Schools provides all students with full access to all courses, the instructional materials required for those courses, and the instructional program.
  • Required textbooks are provided by the school.
  • Expenses associated with some courses, including workbooks and materials, that become the property of students are allowed.
  • It may be requested that students purchase supplemental materials, such as workbooks, dictionaries, review guides, etc.
  • Students must have reasonable access to supplemental materials and may not be penalized academically for their inability to pay for supplemental materials.
  • No student may be excluded from participation in any course based on inability to pay the fee where a fee may be applicable.
  • Curricular expenses are reviewed and approved annually by community superintendents.

Note that I had to look up those policy links because they weren’t present in the bitmapped PDF from Parents Coalition; if I’ve got them wrong please let me know.