Posted on 09/05/2012 7:13:48 AM PDT by MichCapCon
It’s that time of year again: Back-to-school deal hunting season.
Hoping to give their kids every possible advantage, millions of Michigan parents will flock to nearby retailers for new school supplies. But before loading up on notebooks, pencils and crayons, parents should remember that their local public school is required by law to supply these necessities to every student free of charge.
The details are laid out in a 2011 Michigan Department of Education memo listing specifically what supplies schools must provide, including pencils, paper, crayons, scissors and glue sticks. In addition, school districts may not charge for registration or any course fees, even for elective courses.
Yet many parents remain unaware that the tax dollars tendered by themselves and their neighbors have already paid for these school supplies. Some school districts improperly suggest that parents are responsible for these supplies. According to the 2012 Huntington Backpack Index, parents will spend between $548 and $1,117 on school supplies and fees for each student on average.
The rationale for requiring school districts to provide these basic supplies is language in the state Constitution requiring the Legislature to “maintain and support a system of free public elementary and secondary schools as defined by law.” The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that basic school supplies fall under this definition.
So before parents hit the stores, they should beware of paying a second time for supplies they have already funded.
What do you expect of something set-up on the Bismarck model?
Take pictures...make a report...and send it to the School Board....
I don’t like the addition of “cleaning wipes”, something that should be provided to the janitor by the school.
> What do you expect of something set-up on the Bismarck model?
The current American version of the Government School Collective is a miscegenation of Bismark and Marx, with a bit of Mao and Faust thrown in for good measure.
The standard, minimum school supply list was about $100 per kid. The curriculum fees and necessary fees upped this to $250 per kid. Optional clubs and field trips I don't want to exclude my kids from for being cheap, $350.
My kids are not in formal sports or activities with lots of fees. If my son played football, it would be about $200 more. If my daughter did cheer leading, it would be about $400. And my children are in elementary school. If they were older, those costs would be higher. I have no tutoring costs, which is hundreds per month. Music is another big cost for older kids. My daughter's clarinet is a hand me down (free) and lessons are with a family member (free). Yet the school had a meeting with a rep on renting instruments. There are teachers who insist all kids take music lessons, another $150-300 per month. I can see how parents end up on the hook for hundreds for enrichments that they think are mandatory to get a child into college. Sports alone are costly. It would be better to take the kids to the park to run around and organize play dates, but some parents think you MUST have a son in a sport to build character or get exercise. Your daughter MUST be in dance or cheer leading to get exercise and make friends. I use American Heritage Girls and Boy Scouts for the "socialization".
At one of my local supermarkets, there was a school bus parked with a sign on the side: “FILL THIS BUS with school supplies for needy kids!” Around the same time, some city council members were standing around the doors leading into Walmart, asking people to buy some school supplies and donate them to kids who can’t afford them.
From what I see on the news, the beneficiaries of all this are largely black. But when I was a kid, you never saw all this begging for school supplies. The black kids came to school supplied just like the white ones. I know it may seem uncharitable of me....but I notice this stuff starts earlier every summer, and I’m not getting why black parents suddenly can’t afford notebooks and pencils.
I just paid $400 for my daughter’s text books plus more for supplies at a U of California that is heavily subsidized by my tax dollars — that plus 30% more in tuition. I am dreading the engineering books I have to buy for the next one (chemical or mechanical, he hasn’t made up his mind yet) when he starts up in a few weeks (already bought the engineering calculator). But now, it’s possible to rent or even download textbooks for a lot less.
I agree that there are many justified complaints about public schools and teachers, however, my youngest just finished AP classes in Chemistry, Calculus C (Diff EQs), Physics II and Biology scoring 5s and one 4 on the tests. He had wonderful teachers about whom I have no complaints, they put in a lot of extra time (that they didn’t have to) helping the kids learn the material, study and review for the tests.
Thank God for those teachers because there is no way I could help my kid with those particular classes, I’d have to hire someone (turns out HE did the tutoring himself).
Not all teachers are lazy a-holes who ignore kids while sitting behind desks reading the paper, waiting for their “fat pensions” — which in California is 65% of a teacher’s salary after 30 years, average teacher makes $60,000.
The AP physics teacher at my son’s school told me AP Physics I and II are now combined into one class making it very very difficult for him to teach two different classes in the same room — that plus the school refuses to give him the $$ he needs for equipment for experiments, ditto for the AP Chemistry teacher. The AP biology teacher was moved into a smaller classroom so his larger classroom, which was set up for experiments, could be turned into a “reading lab” for struggling readers
In some districts when over 50% of property taxes go to public schools/education then why do parents have to foot the bill for even more supplies? I pay 55% of total property taxes for schools and I don’t have any children. That’s redistribution involuntary socialism in my view.
I bet each and every one of them had a cell phone. Priorities?
I don’t know where you live, but if you pay school taxes PLUS all those fees, I’d move.
Pens and pencils? I wish. The school supply lists for my kids include things like... copier paper, zip lock bags, post it notes, paper towels, hand soap, disinfectant wipes, and kleenex.
These things all go into a community pile that is use through out the year. The list is long and expensive.
Oh, the list does include things like pens too. However, it's red pens that are for the teacher.
Oh, to expect them to do without a cell phone is just unreasonable. /s
My kids went to Catholic School. So I’m well aware of all the money parents are asked to spend and stuff to buy - way above and beyond that for public schools.
My kids went to Catholic School. The money parents are asked to spend and stuff to buy was way above and beyond that for public schools.
Please do not put names on the supplies, they will be kept in my desk and distributed on an as-needed basis to all kids in the class.
It's a good thing Grandma was their to mediate.
I pay school taxes and private school tuition now. And the local public schools are demanding as much in school supplies and fees as the private school; in some cases, public schools are even charging for honors classes and riding the school bus.
That is exactly right. Twentytwo students each bringing hand cleaner, paper towels, etc. and those cabinets are packed full.
I refuse to send ‘classroom’ supplies and only buy items my kids need for themselves - pencils, paper, etc.
Sounds a little like communism.
I wonder if homeschooling parents, like my wife and me, can get “free” school supplies from our local public school?
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