Elimination of School Fees a Key Victory for California Students

Low-income students – particularly those who attend school with a high percentage of more affluent students – are the big winners in a historic court settlement announced last week.

California public schools can no longer charge parents extra fees for textbooks, art supplies, workbooks and other educational supplies under the settlement. Families also can no longer be required to pay for extracurricular expenses, including sports uniforms and choir costumes.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in September by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups concerned with equal access to public school opportunities.

Many low-income and middle class families now find that seemingly small fees quickly added up to big money – easily more than $100 per child, even without extracurricular expenses.

In one school, for example, students were asked to pay about $50 for math workbooks, $30 for art supplies and another $30 or so for novels required for an honors English class.

ACLU officials have said that some families with multiple children have spent more than $800, and some have claimed to have paid as much as $4,000 for extracurricular activities.

The fees are most commonly found in schools where many families have large disposable incomes and can easily afford to pay the fees without sacrificing, according to ACLU officials.

No California school districts actively opposed the lawsuit – in part because a 1980s Supreme Court ruling seemed to make it clear that the fees would ultimately be found unconstitutional. At the same time, ending the fees comes at an admittedly difficult time for many California public schools, which have already been forced to make deep cuts because of the state’s ongoing budget crisis.

That said, the settlement is still an important victory for low-income families – and also for advocates of educational and social justice, who generally consider equal access to education opportunities to be core values.

The message being sent to districts – and to low-income families – is that the public schools truly are there to serve all students, regardless of income, and that all students must have access to the same classes and extracurricular activities. This is an important message, indeed – and one that we hope will soon be received by families in other states as well.