Parents feeling relief from school fees ruling

Classroom fees in public schools have often posed problems for families across the state and the nation. Now, those families may find a little financial relief.

School districts across Idaho are tossing class fees and shortening school supply lists in response to a November district court ruling that class fees are unconstitutional.

The court case, filed by Russell Joki against the West Ada School District in Meridian, was about the unconstitutionality of fees charged by Idaho school districts. The court ruling stated classroom fees violate the state constitution which requires Idaho to “...establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

“What a family should not be forced to choose is whether one child may take advanced placement history or another take heavy duty diesel repair when they cannot afford both,” Fourth District Judge Richard Greenwood wrote in his decision. “Nor should students or parents be required to seek charity, which may or may not be granted, to enable a child to take a class offered by a school district for credit toward graduation.”

All the school districts in Kootenai County have taken steps to eliminate or reduce classroom costs to families. Supply lists have also been dwindling, requiring students to buy only necessary items for school, and replacing existing fees with optional fees.

Coeur d’Alene Schools

The Coeur d’Alene School District has clarified a lot of the language it uses to communicate with parents about classroom needs. Some costs are now labeled as “voluntary” and the locker fees are now called “locker deposits,” making it clear the money will be given back to the student at the end of the school year if no damage has been done to the locker.

Deanne Clifford, principal of Lake City High School, said her school has already been in the practice of helping kids with school supply costs.

“We have a pretty large socio-economically challenged population here at Lake City,” she said. “So we do everything we can to help with those classroom supplies. I think this is more a matter of semantics.”

To cover field trips for its elementary and middle school students, the district is asking for “donations” instead of saying a trip costs a certain amount per student.

The Coeur d’Alene School District has been reaching out to booster clubs and parent teacher organizations and associations for donations and monetary help to make up the costs. The district is also heavily promoting its school supply drives. Any item on supply lists not necessary for students to complete their assignments are listed under a “requested donations” section, which includes tissues, ziploc bags and other classroom items.

“We very often receive calls or emails from parents looking for help with gathering school supplies and I am the primary in receiving those calls during the summer,” Coeur d’Alene School District’s Director of Communications, Laura Rumpler, wrote in an email to The Press. Regarding costs for lab materials and art supplies, she wrote, “...our school administrators and teachers work to find ways to scholarship those students [who can’t afford it] so they can participate in those classes.”

Post Falls Schools

The Post Falls School District has been working to minimize class fees for a long time. According to Superintendent Jerry Keane, the district doesn’t want to put up any barriers to any of its students.

Keane said the district has a supply budget that has been slowly growing and will be able to cover the costs of any previous class fees.

“In general we’ve been steering away from fees for years because of not only the legal issue, but it’s difficult for families and we need to make sure kids have access [to their education],” Keane said. “Even if we do [have fees] we never stop a kid from doing something. If they can’t afford the fees we subsidize them anyway.”

Keane emphasized that barriers for students to participate and excel in Post Falls classrooms won’t be financial in nature.

“This has not been something that’s been a problem for us and we’ve approached these things very light-handedly anyway,” Keane said. “There’s no doubt that if a kid comes to school, they will get the supplies they need.”

Lakeland Schools

The Lakeland School District has cut all class fees and largely reduced its school supply lists.

“Our understanding is we cannot require students to pay a fee for a course that carries credit,” said Assistant Superintendent Lisa Sexton.

The district asked all its teachers to identify “community property” that kids used to have to provide for the classroom or school. Items such as hand sanitizer and tissues are now off the supply lists. Obviously, if families want to donate some of those items, it’s greatly appreciated.

For middle school and high school students there are usually fees associated with classes such as woodworking and art. The schools will provide the supplies and materials absolutely necessary for students in these classes to complete the required projects. Beyond that, students can invest more money if they want to build bigger or fancier projects.

As far as field trips go, the Lakeland School District has identified two trips, one for fourth-graders and one for fifth-graders, that tie directly to a class’s curriculum, which the district will pay for. One trip is to the Cataldo Mission for a local history lesson and another is to North Idaho College to watch the Spokane Symphony in support of students’ music curriculum.

As in all other districts, there are resources within the Lakeland School District for kids who can’t afford school supplies.

The Lakeland School District estimates it will swallow $32,000 for class fees and whatever extra tissues and hand sanitizers are needed.