Public School Fees Wear On Montgomery Parents

The list of approved fees for Montgomery schools runs to 48 pages. Many of the charges are presented to parents as "course fees," with no hint of their purpose.

Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville lists 24 fees this school year covering at least twice that many courses, ranging from $5 to $40, according to a school document parent activists obtained. Walter Johnson charges 49 course fees, ranging from $4 to $40. Thomas Edison High School of Technology charges as much as $400 for a class in cosmetology.

Beth Kaufman of Bethesda spent about $107 last year to supply her twins, then eighth-graders at Takoma Park Middle School: $10 for assignment books, $8 for lockers, $24 for Spanish workbooks, $5 for orchestra class and $60 in extracurricular activity fees.

She said that this year, at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, , "my kids have been asked for exactly zero dollars so far. I don't know if it's because of all the parent agitation."

Opposition to fees in Montgomery emanates from a watchdog group known as the Parents Coalition. Its leaders urged parents to oppose the fees at the classroom door. School officials responded with an Aug. 19 memo to principals, clarifying that it was all right to charge fees but not to penalize students who do not pay.

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.

Ciolfi's group used public records requests to determine that many Virginia schools had no formal policies on fees. The findings prompted the state education department last spring to survey school systems. Of 83 systems that responded, 64 said they charged fees. Most of the 64 said they had a policy on fees. Fewer than half said they had rules for what to do when a family seeks financial help.

Virginia law on fees is more explicit than Maryland's. It allows schools to charge students for workbooks and for transportation to extracurricular activities. It does not allow schools to withhold report cards and diplomas from students who fail to pay. State regulations are being rewritten and will provide further guidance, Ciolfi said.

Montgomery's school board will meet in a closed session Sept. 9 for legal advice on fees, and administrators are studying the policy. Board members have little to say publicly on the matter.

"Do I have a doubt that some of those fees on the 40 pages of fees are on the other side of our policy?" said one board member, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. "I have no doubt in my mind."