School fees

[velvetpage]

I just read a website for the Calgary Board of Education. I skipped over most of the academic stuff, because it's actually very similar to what's on my board's website in relation to standardized testing, but I was intrigued by the page about school fees: Parents may find that there are about five hundred dollars' worth of school fees if they have two kids in high school.

Now, from my perspective, I think this is a good idea. I think it's crazy that the Ontario government provides every single pencil for its kids, for example. Careful shopping and sticking to a short list would make it possible for most kids to get all their basic supplies for $30-$40. This way, teachers can order exactly what they want their classes to have, everyone pays the same amount, and there is a waiver for parents who can't afford it.

I absolutely love the idea of a lunch supervision fee. One of the reasons our boards are crunched for cash and putting caps on supervision time is the changes to lunch supervision since the Harris government. Back in the late eighties, many Ontario boards hired supervisors to watch kids eat, so that teachers would have that time free. The decision at the time was that, if they were paying the supervisors anyway, it was okay to let kids stay for lunch even if their parents were home. Then Harris came, and with him came the financial crunch, and suddenly the lunch supervisors were gone. But a whole generation of kids had grown up expected lunch supervision for their children, free of charge, and someone had to provide it. So it fell back in teachers' laps.

What do you think? Is there a place for school fees, with a family cap on them and a waiver system in place, in Ontario?

Comments

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

in our schools, you pay for your own supplies all through--some teachers have extra pencils and stuff in class, but you are expected to return them at the end of class. one teacher went so far as to take your shoe for a pencil so you wouldn't leave with hers. that was middle school, where everyone had their own...in elementary school I believe they have a lot of extras, but it just comes out of the budget, i suppose.

the only real fees we have are for parking. transportation is and must be paid for by the school if you live outside a certain distance range (.8-1.2 miles or something, depending on your age group), inside you can walk or get a ride from someone. We have aides who monitor the lunchroom...sometimes subs get that as one of their periods, or the assistant gym teacher. anyone who doesn't teach the full amount of periods per day.

I suppose that if those things aren't built into the budget in Ontario, it's better to have some fees that are fairly low, just to subsidize it a bit. it's a lot to expect people to suddenly go from paying no fees to $500, for example. it's something that would probably need to be introduced slowly to reduce the amount of waivers needed because people just couldn't afford it.

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

ooh, you know, i forgot something on lunch supervision...in elementary school the teachers each take 1 day per week doing it. just lunch, not recess...they have recess off to eat their lunch and do their planning and whatnot. none of them really seems to mind, and that way each grade has 1 teacher present, along with the aides and stuff. I think it's just fine that way, since they still get a (longer) time off for recess just afterwards while the aides watch the kids.

I think fees ideally should be replaced by taxes for things like that, though, since everyone has an opportunity to eat in the lunchroom. parking? hell yes, you should pay for that. supplies? everone should buy their own. but teachers/aides/whoever's time should be paid for out of the budget...a fee could be introduced while budget/tax changes were being worked out, but it shouldn't be a long term thing.