Update 6: On Channel 9’s website, Scott Rubens posted, Montgomery County Reviews School Fees:
A $1,000 fee for a choral class fired up a parent now fighting the fees charges for classes in Montgomery County Schools. Her oldest son is in college and her youngest attending private school, but Janis Sartucci still wants to end the fee practice she calls unfair.
“You’re talking about a two-tiered school system, one for kids who can afford the extras and one that can’t,” said Sartucci.
Update 5: Kate Ryan has filed another story at WTOP, After pressure from parents, committee looks into school fees:
When parents took their grievances directly to the Montgomery County Board of Education just before school opened, and said the fees were illegal, Weast - and all the members of the school board - remained silent.
But on Wednesday, standing between Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Maryland House Majority Leader Kumar Barve - who wants to force schools across the state to drop frees - Weast says he was not contradicting earlier behavior.
“No. No. Nothing’s changed. We were already looking at things,” Weast says.
Update 4: Superintendent Weast has responded to the fees controversy in an item on Channel 7’s website, Montgomery Co. Superintendent Addresses School Fees:
“If it needs to be changed, we’ll change it. Where it needs to be changed, we’ll change it. And we’ll deal with it in a very professional way. That won’t hurt the students,” said Weast.
Update 3: Kate Ryan of WTOP also writes on this topic today, Md. House leader to call for ban on school fees:
Barve, who attended Montgomery County schools, says he’ll introduce a bill that will ban public schools from charging fees related to the curriculum.
“I didn’t have to show that my father made under a certain amount of money in order to get into it (calculus class) without paying fee. I had to show that I was able to do calculus. That’s all I had to worry about.”
Regarding the assertion that the the loss of fees will cause problems, he said:
“I don’t buy that argument. I just don’t. The Montgomery County delegation, senators and delegates, have done a terrific job bringing money home for our public school system, not just this year, but in the 18 years I’ve been in office.”
Sounds to me as if Mr. Barve is actually pretty well angered by the situation.
Update 2: Since posting this I’ve noticed that the Gazette’s Montgomery County Editorial this week, Addressing fees in public schools, speaks to this subject:
Advocates for change are on target. There is confusion over what’s mandatory and what’s not when it relates to coursework fees and some charges are open to interpretation – do principals ask or suggest, or do they require and mandate?
An updated opinion from the state’s attorney general might be helpful in guiding school boards since much has changed in the last three decades with school funding, curriculum and the materials needed in classes, from workbooks to graphing calculators. At the very least, the school board must clear up any ambiguity in its fee regulations and take steps needed to apply them consistently in all 199 schools.
Update: An expanded version of this article was posted Wednesday morning.
Marcus Moore writes in the Gazette, Barve to seek ban of school fees:
Del. Kumar P. Barve, the [Maryland] House Majority Leader, said Tuesday that he would file a bill before the upcoming General Assembly session in January to prohibit parents from paying the expenses.
“The purpose of public school education is to allow each child to get a great education regardless of their economic background,” said Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg. “I don’t think it’s wise … to stratify students between those who can afford the fees and those who can’t.”
Also on the topic of school fees, a couple of days ago Daniel de Vise wrote in the Washington Post, Public School Fees Wear On Montgomery Parents:
The fee debate has raised legal questions. In 1987, the Maryland attorney general interpreted the state’s guarantee of free public schools to mean “that everything directly related to a school’s curriculum must be available to all free of charge.” That opinion is key, as no state court has ruled on the legality of fees in the modern era.
Montgomery officials have suggested that schools are merely asking parents to pay the fees, and that all required materials will be provided. But schools seldom characterize fees as optional, in Montgomery or anyplace else.
“The families are led to believe that the fees are mandatory and that the students won’t be able to get their schedules and participate in activities and graduation if they don’t pay them,” said Angela Ciolfi, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville.
For more on this topic, see my previous post, as well as the Marcus Moore’s story from last week.