Illegal Fees To Attend Public Schools

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Illegal Fees To Attend Public Schools

invite response
2012 Sep 18, 4:49am 43,317 views 136 comments

I was a bit shocked when I went to re-register my daughter for another year at public school but the online registration would not let me enroll her until I agreed to pay for insurance for a mandatory school-issued iPad, or assume all liability for even accidental damage for it.

Since I was pretty sure that's illegal, I complained and was then allowed to register her without either paying or agreeing to accept all liability for it.

But now she's being singled out for public humiliation as the only student whose parents didn't just roll over and obey. They won't let her take the iPad home, and at the same time they require her to do homework on it. They're using her now to pressure me to agree to the illegal charge.

Not sure what else to do, I called the ACLU and was happy to hear that I'm not alone. These illegal fees have increased in recent years and caused considerable hardship for thousands families that can't pay. Often they are not even given required textbooks until they pay some illegal fee. I can pay, but the principle of the thing really bothers me. The school should obey the law, especially the state constitution.

So the ACLU has filed suit and it looks like they are going to win:

http://www.aclu-sc.org/doe/

Anticipating the win by the ACLU, the state legislature is trying to head off some kind of judgement against the state by enacting a law that provides mechanisms to enforce the state constitution's ban on fees for public schools, AB 1575. That bill is on the governor's desk right now

Not sure what to do in the immediate future though, since this is harming my daughter right now. Perhaps I could agree to the illegal liability for a week, maybe enough time for the governor to sign the law (if he is going to).

Or could I get an emergency injunction that would force the school to treat my daughter just like all the other students, and not discriminate because we are protesting illegal fees?

I can't figure out how to get an emergency injunction though. I looked at the San Mateo County court website for hours and got nowhere. Calling didn't help either. The people at the county court offices are not helpful.

Advice?

« First « Previous Comments 121 - 136 of 136 Search these comments

121 david1 2012 Sep 20, 12:16am

marcus says

Then again I would have reservations about tracking to an extreme degree at a young age. How does a child know what they want to do or will be able to do?

Coming from a guy who has consistently scored extremely high on standardized tests: (I have often wished there could be a job where I just took standardized tests all day - tutoring for the GMAT is not nearly lucrative enough)

This would be a huge mistake. I have no problem admiting that I have been outperformed occasionally by peers in both my educational and professional careers who I am quite sure would have scored lower than I on any standardized test.

To do this on a large scale would be a detriment to our collective growth.

We have already too much unrealized potential in poor or inner-city areas lost to the capitalist property tax-based system of public school funding.

122

Patrick 2012 Sep 21, 9:40am

Without admitting they did anything wrong, the district is now going to allow my daughter to take home the iPad even without my buying insurance or taking on all liability for it. The state laws regarding willful damage to school property are sufficient for them.

So problem solved as far as my personal situation goes!

Now I just hope that AB 1575 gets passed so that other parents will have an easier time protesting illegal charges for public schools in the future.

Assemblyman Rich Gordon was a great help in this by simply calling the superintendent's office. I support Rich for re-election in November!

123

KILLERJANE 2012 Sep 21, 9:48am

They are buying you off. But now they have to consider their fees, so you made an impact.

124 suspiria_2 2012 Sep 21, 11:11am

just you wait 'til the other parents get the word.

watch-- half of them will be like the comment above about how you're so petty. the other half will bumrush the admin. office for their own refunds.

125

Patrick 2012 Sep 21, 12:25pm

suspiria_2 says

about how you're so petty

Yeah, that pesky state constitutional guarantee of free public education.

Why would anyone be concerned about that?

126

curious2 2012 Sep 21, 1:17pm

suspiria_2 says

half of them will be like the comment above about how you're so petty. the other half will bumrush the admin. office for their own refunds.

Most of them will wish they had done the same thing, but they probably don't have the time because they're busy working two jobs to pay the mortgage. Nuisance fees and rebate slippage both depend on people not having enough time. Few would seriously argue against contesting an illegal fee, just like nobody would argue against completing a rebate form after buying the product; most people recognize the legitimacy of it, they just don't have the time.

127

evilmonkeyboy 2012 Sep 21, 1:57pm

Wow! It sounds like your daughters school district just opened up a can of worms. I can not imagine that giving high schoolers fragile iPads is a good idea. I would imagine that some of the parents that signed an agreement to assume liability will not be okay when their kids iPad is lost or stolen. To me it seems like if the school wants to require the iPad they should treat them like a text book. If you loose it, you get a student debt. Meaning that you can not participate in extra curricular activities until the debt is paid but you can still have your free education.

128

Patrick 2012 Oct 5, 4:59am

Woohoo! Governor Brown signed AB 1575, reaffirming that public schools cannot charge mandatory fees, and creating a mechanism to complain about illegal fees without filing a lawsuit:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/10/fees_for_public_schools_draw_suits_settlement.html

In this case, the government seems to be functioning properly.

129

Dan8267 2016 Mar 19, 8:00pm

thunderlips11 says

Textbooks ain't that much cheaper than the tablets.

Textbooks are indeed much more expensive than tablets, mostly because of copyright laws and the publishing industry, but also it's far more expensive to produce dozens of textbooks than a single tablet.

The government should just pay a person $1 million to write the definitive textbook on a subject, and then give away the content to everyone. It would make the textbook cost less than a penny per print and still incentivize the best people in the world to write the best textbooks on any subject.

130

Dan8267 2016 Mar 19, 8:07pm

rando says

Students could probably learn better from the Wikipedia than from lots of the textbooks I've seen and used.

~~Wikipedia~~ The Internet

The last thing we need is students learning that Plato was an ancient Hawaiian weatherman and surfer taught by Barney the Purple Dinosaur. There are sooooo many better sources of real knowledge than Propogandapedia.

And I'm not the only one who says so.

131

zzyzzx 2016 Mar 19, 8:09pm

I'm adding your story to my long list of reasons not to have kids.

132

GNL 2016 Mar 20, 9:07am

This is purely big government and big business coming together. Electronic surveillance for future profit and tracking citizens. The proof to my statement is that they are making it a requirement.

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