School starts here next week and we are shocked and dismayed at the high level of fees required to get our elementary student into ‘free’ public school. What is going on here?
Public school is defined as: “a free tax-supported school controlled by a local governmental authority.” But we’ve moved quite far from “free” in this country. When we were grammar school students (not too long ago), all that was expected was that you’d arrive to school with a couple of pencils and a small box of crayons, maybe a notebook. Fees crept in at the higher grades- a gym uniform, musical instrument rentals, small-lab fees in chemistry. But even then, they were pretty manageable. No more.
Our Plum pays $35 to register for school. She is then charged $5 for school supplies. Separate from these fees is a classroom supply list, which could ring up to over $25 in additional costs. Why are we paying for school supplies while also being asked to purchase school supplies? It’s like bringing your own coffee grounds, milk, and cup to Starbucks to then pay them $6 to make you a cappuccino. Insane.
Apparently, students in some school have it much worse. But the fact that people have it worse somewhere else is never an excuse for injustice.
Plum attends an urban school in a very diverse neighborhood. We are not at all poor when compared to many in our surrounding community. But we do struggle to make ends meet in our family. We do without many perks that other people take for granted. We find it hard to hand over approximately $60 at the start of the year. If Plum wants to take violin this year, we’ll need to scrounge up an additional $50. And any school trips will be extra as well, usually around $5 a pop. We are able to cut here, and tighten there, to pay for these fees. But how do our struggling neighbors pay for their kids’ public education? We know many of Plum’s classmates are concerned about putting food on the table, let alone paying for public school. We realize there is a waiver that can be applied for at the start of each school year. But why should people have to seek out a financial waiver in order to attend public school? Attending school should be a given right, not something that anyone has to argue or struggle to do.
As Plum ages into middle school and high school, these fees will become much larger. And if she plans to participate in any social activities, the fees will become exorbitant for our family. So now, as people used to only have to do for college tuition, we’ll begin saving away for her middle school and high school year fees. It is anyone’s guess how we’ll prepare for the cost of college at the same time.