School fees Having an intense debate on Facebook about school fees for public school. I'm in the "stop whining about…

I'm not even bothering to read all the comments, because I think teachers are already underpaid and under appreciated, and I see these threads pop up at the beginning of school every year and the amount of entitlement displayed amazes me every time.

Bottom line, if you don't like it you're free to send your kid to a private school or homeschool them.

All I will add to this is if you feel the thinks you are asked to buy are not being used then volunteer or observe in your child's classroom before you get on a high horse and say how wrong it is.

After receiving my sons 3rd grade school supply list, I went out and bought everything my son needed and bought extras in case he needed or lost things throughout the year

10 Binders

5 huge packs of wide ruled paper

7 Boxes of 40 count #2 pencils

2 packs of pencil top erasers

2 packs of large erasers

2 packs of 4 count highlighters

2 packs of mechanical pencils

1 pencil box

1 binder pencil pouch

5 boxes of crayons

10 3 prong folders

3 packs of divided tabs

8 glue sticks

2 pairs of scissors

2 boxes of Kleenex

2 Lysol wipe containers

2 Zip lock boxes

Hand sanitizer

And a pack of paper towels.....

Needless to say, my sons teacher has made ALL of the items communal property! Now, usually I wouldn't mind. I understand there are families who can't afford school supplies. But when you're sending binders home, with OTHER children's names on them AND they look like they were used last year... I have a problem with that!

The ONLY thing my son kept of his was his Five Star pencil pouch... And only because it had his name on it.

My point is... It's not fair to me as a parent to have to buy new items for my son that he doesn't even get to utilize. And it's certainly not fair to a teacher to have to buy supplies for families who don't budget properly. You know school is going to start after summer, you know school supplies aren't cheap, you SHOULD know it's YOUR responsibility to take care of your child's educational needs!

/endrant

@amp88 I really hate the saying "low man on the totem pole". If you knew anything about totems, your comment would make no sense.

I graduated in 2000 and school fees are the norm here.

If your fees weren't paid up by the time you were to graduate, you didn't get to walk. It almost happened to me. I found out 2 weeks before graduation, that my fees for the year hadn't been paid, by my parents and had to get the money from my grandparents.

Y'all live in some magic place. Your teachers actually get classroom money to spend on their classrooms?! Your schools get computers?!? Like good ones from the past 3 years?!

Can I move where you guys are?

No one buys anything for my classroom. No one buys notebooks for my students to use. No one gives me new fancy technology, no fund pays me diddly a year for supplies. (My "laptop" is 3 inches thick, on the bottom. Adding the screen maybe 5 inches? I've burned through 2 chords in 3 years and they don't make the chord type any more! I dunno what I'll do this year... Phone lesson plans lol)

I also make 20K less than 85% of the teachers in the US.

I buy notebooks.

I buy markers

I buy supplies.

I supply everything for 250 kids a year.

I want to live with you people.(I work in a low economic area in one of the poorest, not the poorest just one of the poorest, counties in America. All of my students are on free lunch. Our school is rundown (woohoo 1955!) , apparently there was dangerous levels of mold in my classroom, while I was pregnant last year. They didn't take it out until after I went on maternity leave. Don't worry that wasn't paid for either.)

s*** I want some damn fund to buy me school supplies.

But OP is talking about school fees and obviously if I get no funding (all teachers do not) then it costs nothing to go to school here, except taxes. But they used 2 million of our education fund on road work thus year so, I'm not surprised. (I believe it was that much)

The only fee my mom had to pay for us was $70 to cover the laptops we were loaned out for the year. Every student got one, and every assignment was online. Very rarely did teachers hand out paper copies of stuff. But that doesn't start until 6th grade, I'm sure when DD starts school I'll have to buy her one of those packs of school supplies they sell before the first day.

Public schools are not free they are paid for by the public though property taxes.

@rhudd your mom may be my son's teacher one of these years :)

I find the whole 'if you can't afford to send them to school don't have them' offensive. My mom was a single mother who busted her a$$ for years taking care of four kids and the start of the school year was rough for her with so many supplies and fees all at once. But I suppose she just should not have had all of us since life always works out how you want it to and she should have foreseen her bad circumstances

@cassandra very rarely do teachers get your tax money to buy those things. I'm a teacher so i know. I'm a choir teacher and have to do lots of fundraising to pay for everything we do. None of that comes from our district because the money has gone to other aspects of the school. You have to be close to or actually be a teacher to really understand.

In oklahoma we don't have to pay fees to enroll our kids so i think that's odd.

We don't pay school fees in our area. Maybe we do but nothing out of pocket up front.

My 3 year old is going into preschool and that's going to be free for us. It's basically private schooling where she's going and fortunately her schooling will be of no charge to us. My husband's tribe pays those fees

We pay for our children's school registration fee, monthly school fees and all the supplies they need throughout the year..

I wish every religious schools were paid for by the government.. Instead of just catholic schools... But I wouldn't change where my kids go for anything...

That being said... Paying a small fee once every year, shouldn't be that hard to do... Especially if it's going to cover all the "free" books, text books (expensive like heck!) and writing materials the child will need in the year... You wouldn't believe the cost and amount of trips to the stores, I've had to make in these last few years just to keep up with projects and supplies they needed..

I wish the teacher would buy them at least and let me pay them.. Lol..

I'm not a fan of cost going up and the quality of the education going down.

I'm all for helping teachers out as they shouldn't have to buy things out of pocket for the kids in their class. However, the amount of tax money that gets dumped into the department of education is MORE than enough to provide quality education but by the time it trickles down to the classroom so many politicians, lobbyists, administrators, and fat cats at the top have taken out "their share" there's nothing left for the actual schools, teachers and kids. Then we are asked to "chip in a little more to help out". That's the B.S. of it.

Working in education is supposed to be a labor of love and public service - there is no reason a Superintendent or administrator of any kind should be making a 6-figure salary - I don't care how many years you've dedicated or how super-stellar you are - if you want to make $100,000 a year you shouldn't be working at the Department of Education.

The only complaint I have about school supplies is the district we live in asks for about $150 in school supplies per child and not just the basics but things the teacher will use as well & a abundance of supplies like 5each boxes of everything. They take everything and put it in the teacher supply closet and as the kids needs items throughout the year they are supposed to give the kids supplies, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils Ect. Every year so far my kids have asked for a new pencil & the teachers tell them to tell their parents to buy more if they need it. So yeah that pisses me off or the time I bought my kids all the more expensive supplies only to find out they passed the supplies I bought out to other lower income students and gave my kids the cheaper end school supplies. That kinda irks me but whatever we know better now. I gave a limited smaller supply of the cheaper supplies to the classes and told my kids to keep their supplies in their bags & lockers. Problem solved.

@alowery We use neither & still pay for the public school system.... O_o

How about us who have our kids in private school and still pay the taxes for public? ;)

The funding structure for public schools is so broken. The class division is perpetuated by having public schools funded by property taxes. The poor get poor education and the rich get... rich education.

I live 2 blocks outside of the district I grew up in. In that district, million dollar homes are the norm, levees are passed, high school teachers with PhDs are the norm. Over half of hs grads go on to get advanced degrees. Parents have plenty of disposable income to spend on fees, and do it gladly.

Meanwhile, 2 blocks away, my school district is a total s*** show. Teachers are basically doing a public service by working here, on top of having parents who truly can't afford extra fees, and worrying about whether their students have eaten.

I don't know what the answer is to truly democratic public school funding, but its a shame that districts whose citizens are already strapped, and the educators in those districts, have to find ways to "afford" helping kids learn in public school.

And this is one of the many reasons our education system is so f*** ed up. Too many ppl b**** ing about me, me, me.

I get why so many supplies are needed. I've seen how the younger kids (hell even smartass high schoolers) treat the supplies. They're wasteful. Use way too much tp, paper towels, sanitizer, glue, break crayons, etc. Yes we need to teach them to be more responsible but let's face it, it's still gonna happen. I've even seen kids steal supplies.

Why should my child be punished bc I'm poor? Should he just sit in the back of the classroom and not participate?? I'd buy extra supplies if needed.

And to a previous pp who asked what does coloring have to do with education... well a lot actually. It teaches the primary and secondary colors, fine motor skills, and in our school, the pictures we colored were puzzle type pictures based on the alphabet or math. Kids want learning to be fun, not just textbooks.

I think school should always be free. I also think we should buy the supplies. Although it seems this years supplies are ridiculous just from talking to my aunt and mom. I think schools need to learn how to budget better & I don't think teachers should have to pay out of pocket unless they want to.

I total agree. It is annoying when a parent believe I should provide their child with paper, pencil, and other basic necessities when I have my own kids to provide that for. Some teachers at my school only get 250 or so to get supplies of the whole year. I give out over 500 pencils a year to students and that comes out of my pocket since I don't get a budget. It gets expensive for the teachers to have to provide every little thing for the students because the parents choose not to.

My fifth grader has about 5 , 1.5" binders that she has the lug around and those jokers are like $5 ea... Plus all the other crap on the supplies list... But my daughter and son go to an amazing school so I can't complain ... And I Agree with pp about name brand school supplies ... A ruler is a ruler so I get what's on sale

We don't have school fees. Just a list of items needed if you want to donate. I bought 3 costco sized snacks, Kleenex, foaming hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes, baby wipes and a bunch of erasers. I will donate throughout the year and don't mind because I know a lot of parents won't and the teacher shouldn't have to spend her own money.

I also only got one box of crayons per year, and I'm pretty sure I still have a couple laying around somewhere.

We need to start teaching our children the art of conservation. And maybe our teachers too?

For example soap is a lot cheaper than hand sanitizer, and is more effective. It's also better for our immune system.

Eh, only thing I complain about is my ex needing to learn that it is not my responsibility alone to pay for things like that for our daughter. Pre-k isn't cheap but half isn't going to kill him. I'm excited for her to go this year, whether he helps or not.

I don't see the problem with school fees. It irks me when the supply list has specific brands that need to be bought though...like a pencil is a pencil.

I actually don't mind buying extra supplies for other kids IF I have enough after buying for my son first. My mom used to only buy for my sis and I, but we never got ALL the supplies on our list (we weren't financially stable growing up) & she couldn't afford to buy extras. So I understand a parent who cant afford supplies. I plan on setting an amount to spend on ds and if any is left over, I'll happily buy extras.

And my students are always asking for pencils, notebooks, paper, FOOD! Throughout the year.

All I can say is I usually have about 100 students and usually spend money out of pocket and things are soo expensive!

I've never heard of enrollment fees for public school...

Our supplies are all communal at the younger grades.

@bubbles wow we never had to share our supplies, we had cubbies with our own things. I think kids would be much more willing to take good care of their own supplies if they didn't get shared with the whole class. That would really irritate me if I wanted to get a large set of crayons for my kids instead of the 24 pks they ask for...only to find out they'd get distributed throughout the class.

When my daughter was in kinder, everything was shared. We had to buy 2 boxes of crayons, primary colors only, one box of 8 and one box of 24. I just looked at her 1st grade teachers class website and she put up the 2014-2015 supply list, and we get to buy her her own supplies--crayons, colored pencils, 2 notebooks, 1 composition book, 1 box pencils , 1 clipboard. We do have to send in 2 boxes Kleenex and a box of markers. The teacher is asking for donations of baby wipes, colored card stock, scotch tape, staples, pencils, glue sticks, construction paper and $5 Walmart and amazon gift cards for photo developing and classroom supplies. Not bad at all in my opinion, last year we had to buy a lot more and it was all to be shared.

I work for my school district and nobody charges any fees unless it's for extra curricular activities, and the school will even pay for extra curriculars if the school is in a "high risk" area. s*** , our Title I schools get free iPads. If someone can't pay the fees, they can't go to school? That seems unfair! I do high school, and I only require my kids to have a notebook or paper for taking notes. I keep a stack of paper (that the school pays for) that kids can use for notes if they don't have any paper. State funding doesn't always come out of property tax. We don't have property tax or state income taxes in my state, it comes out of other taxes.

I have no idea why the need that many, and with the kindergarden here they dont get to keep the stuff we bring. When we walk into the class the teacher showed us where to put everything because its all shared. So if u go get expensive lisa frank pencils and crap like that, it doesnt necessarily go to your kid, if they went to my kids school.

I just wanted to say that almost every school in my city started a program this year where every kid eats lunch free. No matter the income. You don't fill out any free lunch paper work or anything. I thought it was awesome! I don't think we have any fees for our schools outside of electives.

Wow. There is so little I know a about enrolling kids in school. My dd still has a few years before Kindergarten, but I recently read up that our school district requires a $200/yr fee to ride the school bus to and from school and you can only get this bus pass if you live more than 1 mile from the school. I never knew. Either my parents never told me about all the fees involved or there are suddenly a lot more.

It really annoys me when people say that because I chose to be a teacher it is my responsibility to care for all of the children who come through my classroom door. I didn't spend thousands of dollars to go to college to become a glorified babysitter. I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to change the world. I wanted to see children succeed and believe in themselves, to see that they had a voice and could use it to have a positive impact on the world. Apparently to some people that means I agreed to get paid next to nothing to raise other people's children 10 months out of the year.

I should be required to provide shoes for you because your parent can't be bothered to? Boots are great to wear everyday all winter long.

It's my job to provide a healthy snack for your child when it's snack time and they haven't eaten since dinner last night?

I need to make sure your child has clothing that fits them and their butts and bellies aren't hanging out? Give them new clothes and wash then down with baby wipes when they come in smelling like pee or caked in dirt?

Plus I have to provide every supply your child will need for the school year including tissues, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, and Lysol because more and more children are being sent to school sick?

And on top of all those things I need to feed and cloth my own children as well as provide anything else they may need. Plus I have to pay for childcare for my own children so I can go to work and support my family for what amounts to around $5.00 an hour if that when you add up all the time I spend doing my job?

Sorry for the long and rambling rant, but this kind of thing gets me fired up. Thanks Squishy for bringing it up. I like a good debate, especially when it revolves around something I'm passionate about.

We have to supply the school with a pack(the big pack not the small) of toilet paper yo use in the bathrooms per child. I think that is going a little to far. . .but that's just my opinion.

@bubbles wtf are they doing with all these crayons?! Making melted crayon art??lol

Annie kindergarten here its 5 boxes of crayons and 4 boxes for first grade per child.

I don't have any kids in school yet, but I remember how it was when I was in school pretty well. There were no enrollment fees. For supplies, the only thing that was required to bring for the teacher/classroom was a box of kleenex. Im really confused about the crayons comment. My mom bought us ONE box of crayons for the entire school year each year, and that's all I ever needed....and I remember coloring a LOT. I remember some would break and Id ask for new ones. I was told too bad, learn to take better care of them. Teachers never supplied us with more. Funding must have been pretty good then (and I believe still is) in MN. We always had new textbooks, new Apple computers, great variety of art supplies, great PE equipment. In highschool we got a brand new gym equipment (lifting and aerobic machines) it looked just like a small gym you get a membership for. For band, the more expensive or excessively large musical instruments were available to students for individual use throughout the year. Smart boards were put up in almost every classroom. Our school even had a planetarium. This was 5-10 years ago, who knows how much extras they have now. All this for a public school in a middle class town. I'm really confused as to why so many states/districts are having such major funding issues...something isn't adding up.

As far as a fee for enrollment, I guess I wouldn't mind...but if I had to buy all this extra stuff for teachers on top of that, I'd be pissed the funding doesn't have their s*** together.

The teachers at my daughters school are given money to buy supplies every year. In addition to that, they are given $500-$650 from the PTO, that comes from the many many fundraisers we have through out the year. And its not enough, my daughter is about to start 1st grade and for the second year, dry erase markers (pack of 8), Kleenex, hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes are on her supply list as well as things like pencils, crayons, copy paper, colored paper, paper towels, zip block bags. The dry erase markers are for the teacher not the students. If the schools aren't providing basics like copy paper and Kleenex, what are they providing? I think we all can agree that teachers shouldn't have to pay for anything of their own pockets, the school should be doing that. But they aren't. So where is the money going? Someone said building maintenance, well that's nothing new, maintenance is a constant expense, it didn't just pop up overnight and suck the schools budget dry!

I don't know when...my oldest is almost 11 and going into 5th grade and we've always paid fees at registration.

Jazzie, my town has had fees since before I started and I started in 1990. Some have just always done it and others are starting to now because there are more kids to support and such.

Ok. Because I was unaware this happened, when did public schools start charging fees? I'm genuinely curious since I'm a new mom and my baby is only going on 9 months. I like to be prepared.

There weren't any fees when I attended public school until senior year. Then we had to pay senior fees (for prom, luncheon, graduation, etc). But if I have to pay a fee, I see no issue with it. I mean he does need an education. So of course I'll be paying it.

Haha. Hubby and I grew up in a wonderful school district in an expensive town and now we are raising our kids here as well. We pay roughly 3/4 of our yearly property taxes to the school districts as well as yearly fees and school supplies. It sometimes feels overwhelming when we spend $250 on fees, upwards of $400 a yr for lunch and easily $100/150 on school supplies each fall on top of the $6,000 from our taxes (we are on the very low end of taces in our town, can easily get to $15,000 a yr just to schools in some spots) but, we have a highly ranked high school nationally and were voted #3 in small town education system this yr so its worth it.

Having grown up in a great system amd then going to college and mixing with people who have had terrible educations, its more than worth it to me to pay. After all, you get out what you pay in right lol?!

This year public schools get free lunch which I'm thrilled about. It was almost 100$ a month for it. I pay 20$ for school supplies

Public school should be free without fees. Other than your own school supplies

I have always bought extra supplies because I was always that kid who didn't have what they needed growing up. I would gladly pay the school fees too if I could afford it. This year I can't because we are going through hard times. Doesn't mean I shouldn't have my kids or the baby that's on the way (and was before we hit such hard times). Spending $20 on extra pens, markers, paper, crayons, glue, and folders is a lot easier to handle than $100 in fees for both my kids to go to school this year. The good thing is since I don't work and need government assistance right now the school will waive the fees. I agree that funds aren't being used the way they should, but we should try our best to help if we can.

What I want to know is how students survived before hand sanitizer....... Many before mass vaccination even. ?

I haven't read the comments but I have a serious question. Why do they make each and every child bring a certain number of Kleenex and hand sanitizers on the first day. I mean, do those items really get used throughout the entire school year? I mean all of them are gone so the next year the children have to bring those items again?

Public school should be free. But there are the fees for band it's $75 for my 11 year old. Cheerleading for junior high which is 6,7 and 8th grades is $500. My oldest is a junior in high school and they have lab fees for science. It's craziness.

In Illinois if the mother isn't able to afford the cost he could send her children for free. So obviously she has the money to pay that.

I think in my district it's ridiculous because of how much the teachers get paid compared to other districts in the county. Here we have teachers making $100,000 and my mom teaches at Alden Hebron making about $35,000.

She loves what she does and understands when a child can't bring their supplies. Maybe if the mom is having a tough time paying the fees and buying supplies she could have a chat with the teacher?!

I'm on the homeschool bandwagon. They cut art in elementary in my town even though they had the funds. 50% of our property tax goes to the school district

I never had enrollment fees in the public schools I went to. As far as I know the schools my daughter will go to dont have enrollment fees either. I guess I would need to know why I pay them or what they're going toward. In school I paid for supplies and lunches on the days they had something I like. I didnt buy my books or pay to enroll.

I think people are forgetting that the taxes are going to things like building maintenance, new equipment/maintenence, buses, food, etc.

I'm sure you would be upset if your student had to go to a school where the ac was broken or there weren't any ovens to cook lunches.

I don't have school age children yet but my mom was a teacher. She bought a lot of things for her classroom with personal funds. She even took in food for students who weren't eating at home ( not sure this would be allowed now).

I agree that school budgets could be better managed and money could go more directly towards actual education. However, somebody has to pay for schools. Most posters have seemed to understand this but it seems like some aren't. Public schools are funded by us, taxpayers. If schools need to supplement that, it seems to make more sense to add a fee for those using the school than increase taxes for everyone.

I do feel bad for students who may not be able to afford all the supplies, though.

Jwolf i want to like your comment a thousand times

My dd isnt in school but I wouldn't mind paying for school if I can understand what the money is going too. When I went to school I remember the teachers getting new computer's every year but the students had to sit in the same desks that had wobbly legs. I would like my money to go to stuff for the kids not ipads new computer's.

not having read comments.

I have no problem paying for my son to get a good education, but with that said it needs to be better than what the public schools near me are providing. In my area, by middle school, the kids are mostly partying, doing drugs, selling drugs etc. Its been getting worse instead of better, and the teachers are rude and unhelpful. I will have to move at least 20 minutes away so that my kids get a better education, or pay for it. I would even pay a better public school to help funding, but they have to be able to prove its helping the kids.

I don't mind supplying things for my sons classroom especially things he will personally use (markers, tissue, paper, pencils, glue, etc.). I would find a registration fee odd though and would want to know what they use the money for specifically.

And for a pp in Canada (at least in Ontario) the Catholic School system is publicly funded. You just fill out a form to have your taxes directed to the Catholic board instead of public.

I'm surprised that there are so many miseducated people out here. CassandraBurton in general: please tell me where I get this allotment of funds each year for my classroom because I'd love to know! Seriously...I'm so excited! I can't believe I've gone 12 years teaching middle school and didn't realize we have money for supplies and such. To think, I've been buying Kleenex, dry erase markets, etc with my own money when I could have been swimming in this allotment that I get each year! Of course parents shouldn't have to buy Kleenex for the kids that they send to school with boogers flying out of their nose! It's totally my responsibility! I love telling my own children that they can't have things bc mommy and daddy have to buy their nonbiological children school supplies because their parents can't afford it. Who can blame them? Their children NEED to have $200 shoes and cell phones! It's not necessary for parents to help their children academically! It's my job to stay after school unpaid while paying my children's babysitter overtime! And don't worry about picking your student up from free tutoring after school on time, my children can eat dinner at the babysitters (which ill undoubtedly have to pay extra for) or they can wait until I have time to feed them!

My son goes to public school (first day of third grade today:) and I just paid $40 for his registration fee. I didn't think anything of it. I know it's low but I was actually surprised it was so affordable.

It's NOT a free education. That's the point. We pay for it either way. At least if it's privatized, the control comes back to the parents. If fees go up, we would question it and make sure our money was used wisely.

I've been seeing a lot of comments about the dry erase markers, so I would like to address that as a junior high teacher: the students actually use the dry erase markers at their desks with either individual dry erase boards or on their desks. We use them to get immediate answers from the class as a whole.

As far as some of the other supplies go, students lose things or run out...and it's "my responsibility" to supply them with those things. You would be surprised how often I hear "I don't have a pencil...paper...a binder, etc" So, if I didn't supply them one, I would then get a nasty phone call from a parent wondering why their kid made a zero on their work that day. And I would be the batch for not supplying the needed item for their kid to finish.

I'm sure if you ever have a question about a certain fee or if you couldn't legitimately afford it, you can nicely talk to the teacher about it BEFORE THE DUE DATE.

I personally thing if we are over 18 aka college then we pay for it. Children have every right to get a free education. I also thing k-12 public school system is deplorable! I live in a "good school district" but I only plan to try the school out maybe. If it's anything like my education (I didn't learn anything until college) then Im go with private school. I think people who don't want free public school then they should just pay for private school like I plan too. :)

I think there should be a fee for enrolling in public school. Financial assistance needs to be available for families who need financial help but I see no reason why an enrollment fee would be bad.

I think that those who can help, should. And that's wonderful. But those who can't shouldn't be forced to.

@ Cassandra, I'm a teacher and the only time in my 8 years that I have been given money for my classroom was my first year. That money also didn't come from the school or district, but from a donation from the PTA.

Our district doesn't charge fees, but instead asks for donations. Even supplies we can't require students to bring because it's a public school.

Aaah yes, I know where you're spending your time on FB. We've disagreed in the past OP but I'm with you on this one.

Here they do title one meetings every year within the first 2 months of school and all parents are invited to come see the breakdown of school budget/ funding/ and all that.

I dunno if anywhere else does that but maybe look into it

Bentley....in my state I can only find what portion of the overall funding comes from property tax (41%) but not what % of my personal property taxes go to education.

I have a friend who is a 7th grade reading teacher. Her school district doesn't have enough books for her class. She has gone out and bought books so the entire class can read a damn book. Thankfully since then she won a contest and received kindles for her class so now it costs less for the ebook than a paperback. But yes teachers do find themselves with not having enough basic supplies with the minuscule amount they are allotted in the budget.

Bentley I don't know how much income and sales tax goes to the schools but if you pay property taxes, it says on your bill how much of your taxes are going to the schools.

@babybump243, its not that easy. When I went to buy everything off the supply list last year, the shelves at several stores were almost BARE, no 25cent boxes of crayons. And in my area, we have to buy specific brands, quantities and colors. So it is not as easy as going to Walmart and grabbing a 25cent box of crayons.

@Bentley I believe it's different per city/state. You would have to see how much or what % of your property tax was allocated for the local school.

@Bentley don't religious schools fall under the "private", not "public" school system?

We dont pay for enrollment fees in AZ. Do you get a breakdown of where your money is going? Or is it for school supplies only? Does it go straight to the teacher? Sorry, I'm intrigued.

What a broken system.

Another reason we will be homeschooling.

Does anyone realize you can buy boxes of crayola crayons for 25 cents at wal mart when it's back to school time.

My dd didnt color all day in kindergarten. She used pencils more than crayons.

How exactly is coloring necessary for education again?... Funny how we're essentially getting dumber yet more supplies are "essential" for education. ?

The problem is, "public" education is becoming very costly for parents. As a homeowner, almost $1000 of my annual property taxes go to the schools, so if I got hit with a school fee, I would be pretty annoyed. Not because I feel entitled to free education but because as a homeowner, I've already paid nearly $1k to the schools. Its the principle. the fact that myself and all other homeowners would be paying a lot more than everyone else and thats not fair. There are no school fee's where I live but the schools expect parents to provide a lot for the classroom! My local news just did a story on the supply lists that one school sends out and they determined that if a parent were to buy every thing on the list, it would cost $400! My daughter's school list isn't that bad but its going to cost more than last year. And thank God we live outside the district and can take her school because the bus fee is $325 per year due upfront no payments! We're lucky to live a comfortable lifestyle but the fact is, most people in my city aren't that lucky and I am glad that there are no school fees because most people wouldn't be able to afford it on top of school supplies and the bus fee!!

I think the problem is that schools are not spending their money wisely. We have send in 2 reams of copy paper by the first day of school. Several times a year, we get asked to buy more. Well they waste an unbelievable amount of paper! School hasn't even started and they sent out a huge folder full of forms and memos, most of which were totally unnecessary. And it continues through out the year! It is ridiculous the amount of paper they waste! Also teacher salaries in my area start at $45k. There are HS teachers making $92k. They get a nice benefits package that includes retirement.

No enrollment fees where I'm from. It's ridiculous to have to pay for public school.

My 4 kids at home who do less coloring then at school go through a box of 24 crayons in a month, now multiply that by 25+ more kids. The teachers still end up buying MORE boxes of crayons past what is sent in. 6 boxes of crayons is not going to last 1 child the entirety of the school year...especially at the younger grades.

We don't have school fees, but like a couple pp have mentioned, the supply lists are ridiculous. Multiple (like 4 to 6) of everything from crayons to scissors, tissue, copy paper. Perhaps they need to be more judicious with the supplies. .. cuz I don't know how a classroom could run through 5 boxes of crayons per kid in 8 months. That's a box every six weeks!

I come from a family of teachers and I agree that (many but not all) schools and underfunded and teachers do not get paid what they deserve. However, I do beeline that public education should be free and that as citizens it's our responsibility to put the pressure on politicians to make education a priority (both Republicans and Democrats have done a really horrible job).

As a parent who can afford to pay school fees, I will do it with no complaint and probably give more. However, growing up extremely poor I understand there are truly some families who can not afford school fees.

As a teacher I can say I've spent hundreds on things for my classroom and students. I do it for them because it's benefitting them. I think some people don't realize that teachers spend an awful lot of their own money on classroom stuff

I don't mind buying the extra supplies and I wouldn't mind paying a fee if we had one.

Cassandra - teachers pay taxes too. And I do not get reimbursed for everything I buy for my classroom. I understand buying some of my own stuff that I will use, but I can't buy everything. And funding cuts are hurting simple things like having tissue and hand sanitizer in the classroom. It sucks that they have to ask parents for these things, but why should a teacher have to buy that for the whole class for the year? They have families too. During cold season, my kids would go through a box a day. As far as dry erase markers - that might be for the students to use, a lot of classrooms have sets of dry erase boards for student practice. And if its for the teacher, that is something the school should provide, but probably got cut.

And private schools aren't accountable to anyone unless they want to be. And they pay their teachers TERRIBLY. And of course homeschooling one child is cheaper and less time consuming than educating a class of 30 (if you're in a district with class size limits - more like 35).

As far as fees are concerned, I would pay them bc I know schools are really strapped for cash and we could afford it. However, I would also start contacting my state representatives about it and asking why they keep cutting funding. I think public education is a right and of course it's not really free, it's still an investment in your child's future. And if buying school supplies means going out to eat a couple less times a year or buying fewer outfits or whatever, then that's what I'll do bc it's important to me.

We don't pay school fees for our two that are in school. Mine are in k and 4th. I love my kids school. For my son in 4th we have a school supply list but for my son in k all they ask us to supply is a pack of baby wipes, three boxes of tissue and a 4 pack of paper towel. The school provides everything else until the 3rd grade. Our school does a lot of fundraising though which pays for field trips. Love small country schools.

You would think that something as education would be important when sorting our funds. But nope! We are low man on the totem pole and funds are slim. Teachers are teaching because it's a passion. We spend our own money to give the students the best environment to learn in because finding goes into other things.

Im glad texas doesnt do that, im struggling right now and im not usually this bad off , s*** happens and im glad that everyone helps out. I dont mind helping others and im glad that i dont have to pay out of pocket, because id probably f*** ed right now.

The school my son attends helps those families who cannot afford registration fees or school supplies. So their child will still be able to attend school. To the pp that said schools would turn them away I honestly don't think that's the case. My family can afford it, I (personally) don't think it's that expensive, and I will be asking my son's teacher throughout the year if they need anything else. That's just my opinion though.

Pp school taxes come from property taxes homeowners pay for.

So we're expected to pity the teachers even though we're also spending large sums of money to fund what should be free?

I'm sorry but I'm just not feeling bad. I highly doubt it take thousands of dollars of the teachers money to buy supplies for one classroom that you can get at the dollar store for five bucks and under. What all do they have to buy, honestly? They expect us to but what they want. It's ridiculous. Parents pay for text books, notebooks, paper, pen, pencils, crayons, markers, back packs, binders, etc. teachers have what they need I buy? Dry erase markers and hand sanitizer? Do tell me how it's the teachers who are suffering terribly.

You should see our school supplies list just in crayons we are asked to provide 5 boxes of 24 crayons. I think our school has alot of supplies. Hell they sent us alot back home because they didnt use it all.

I'm in pa we don't pay for public school here (in taxes yes) but we do provide school supplies and uniforms I don't think it's ok to tell someone you shouldn't have children if you can't afford to pay for public schooling that you already pay for during taxes but hey maybe that's just me

Now does the school tax come out of federal taxes? Cause in that case most of the working poor barely are required to pay federal taxes.

Compared to what I paid for preschool (yes I know that it is not required but being a SAHM I wanted my kids to socialize a few days a week) I thought the $149 wasn't a big deal. I also paid an additional $45 in school supplies. I have 3 kids (4 come November) and when they're all enrolled in public school full time the registration and supply list will still be cheaper than 1 year of preschool at my local park district. So I really don't see the big deal.

Cassandra....the allotted money teachers are given is ridiculous. It is not enough to supply the classroom with enough supplies for an entire year. Teachers, where are you? Teachers end up spending thousands of THEIR own money on supplies a year because their allotted money doesn't cover what they NEED.