Posted on 08/09/2005 10:32:06 AM PDT by Millee
As a kid I hated this time of year. Remember that sick-to-your-stomach feeling when in the middle of your summer vacation, and without notice, you saw it — the newspaper ad for the "Back to School Sale"?
While parents may rejoice in seeing those back-to-school ads, they can't be all too jolly about doling out the green for the school supply list they get from their kid's teacher.
A reader sent me what I assume is a pretty standard list, from Bear Creek Elementary.
You have to wonder if Boulder Valley School District is in collusion with the Crayola Corporation. It listed everything from brand-specific crayons, markers, colored pencils, watercolors to "non-violent" decorative stickers.
But you are not really buying this stuff for your kid. You are buying it for the entire class. According to the list for kindergarten supplies, "only the backpack should be marked with the child's name. All other supplies are added to the shared class supplies."
In other words, you get to take your kid's shopping for this fun stuff, but your kid can't keep it. All of it becomes state property.
My favorite is the boxes of Kleenex-brand tissues parents are told to buy for the class. If parents are supposed to buy Kleenex, why shouldn't they also have to buy toilet paper? That won't be too far off. Parents are now told to buy antibacterial soap and wipes.
Colorado's state constitution guarantees a free education. Article IX, Section 2 says the state will provide "a thorough and uniform system of free public schools, wherein all residents of the state, between the ages of 6 and 21, may be educated gratuitously." So why do parents get hit up to buy glue-sticks and soap?
I asked a Chris King, an assistant super of Boulder Valley School District. He was quick to tell me that the district has programs to help those parents who cannot afford the school supplies. That's terrific. But what about those parents who can afford it, but knowing that the state guarantees a free education, would rather spend their $50 on a tutor or band uniform?
He pointed me to the law that allows them to ask parents for the goods. State Statue 22-32-117 makes it clear that school district can charge fees on a "voluntary basis" for school-sponsored activities that are "not within the academic portion of the educational program." In English, you can be charged for non-academic activities. If you don't pay, you may not be allowed to participate in that non-academic activity.
The "voluntary" word in the law struck me. Nowhere in the Bear Creek Elementary School supply list did it mention that you did not have to buy any of this stuff, including Kleenex. The only thing that seemed voluntary was a $10 "donation" to buy supplemental class supplies, leading the reader to logically believe the rest of the stuff was mandatory.
And if all the glue sticks and Crayola crayons and Fiskars scissors are voluntary, as Chris King made clear, they therefore must be for the "non-academic portion of the educational program." If they were for the "academic portion," the school would have supply it, just like textbooks.
It would be one thing if my kid weren't allowed to play football if we didn't pay for his uniform. But kindergartners use their glue sticks and scissors all the time. Four hours a day must be "non-academic" and therefore optional.
BVSD should not only make clear that these supplies are voluntary by state law, but also make clear what voluntary activities these supplies are used for. In fact, the same state statute requires them to publicize that very information. Being buried on their Web site is not being "publicized."
Of course there is a salesmanship reason the schools ask you for soap and Kleenex. It helps perpetuate the notion that schools are starved for money.
And that strategy works. Even with Amendment 23 and the fact BVSD has raised its operating tax level as high as it legally can in Colorado, you have to buy tissue or believe your kid will wipe his nose on his sleeve.
Out of the $7,500 a year spent on your child, they can afford to buy the box Kleenex and the toilet paper and the soap.
But in the end it will take parents who aren't so terrified of conflict, and so embarrassed of seeming unsupportive of their school, to stand up say they have already paid for their child's education through their taxes.
Here in East Baton Rouge Parish, each public school child has to bring 100 pencils...
Or what? Do the teachers stand outside the school and check to see if every child is bringing 100 pencils, and if not, the child is turned away? That's just ridiculous that a school would say that.
I agree. Our schools are swimming in cash and superfluous administrators.
The requirement to buy these supplies is nothing more that fraud perpetrated on the parents of school age children.
And yes, the school systems have deals with manufacturers and distributors which help explain the reliance on brand names and specific distributors. The schools get cash back.
It's not the schools, it's the school board...
Still, seriously, what do they do if a child doesn't bring 100 pencils with him/her? Is the child not allowed to attend school? What are the consequences of not complying?
Plus it gets the little darlings used to the idea of "shared property". Just like good little socialists.
Nothing happens...just more voluntary compliance by government.
I caught on to this scam pretty fast. I have twin girls, and when they started Kindergarten, it almost broke the bank.
When they started first grade, I bought only half of what was on the list and sent a note to the teacher that I could not afford to supply other people's children.
The supplies sent were for my daughters, and my daughters ONLY. If THEY needed anything else, she should let me know, and I would supply it.
I've been doing it ever since, and have YET to have a teacher send a note home to tell me they needed more.
Good for you!
I cannot understand how it could possibly cost that much. I was in a modern elementary school recently that had a classroom World Book encyclopedia from 1958.
Our first year of homeschooling (about 10 years ago) cost us around $50.00 in non-reuseable materials.
These schools need to learn to budget and golly, they might be able to buy their own Kleenex.
Thinking about it though, it's not the Kleenex, it's part of the communal brainwashing ideology. Teach the kids early that they own nothing.
I had to give my daughter's 1st grade teacher $14.00 at the beginning of this past school year and supposedly she bought all the supplies ($14.00 from each child - 20 kids altogether). At the end of June, I sent a note in asking the teacher to make sure my daughter's crayons and markers etc. were sent home on last day of school with her. I never got a reply and nothing came home with her, so I am assuming that everything became "community property." What a scam - this will not happen again.
LOL! You ever see what's left of those crayons and markers by the end of the year? You wouldn't WANT them back!
In Texas, the illegals/"disadvantaged" children walk into the class and tell you they want their "free stuff." I put disadvantaged in quotes because these same kids came back after Christmas bragging about all the newest video games they'd received, while we couldn't afford those games for our own boys. Of course, these same families were on the free breakfast and lunch programs, so the taxpayers made it possible for them to buy their kids these expensive toys. The milk of human kindness tends to clabber in one's veins after a few years of watching this scam.
Changing the caliber of the weapon doesn't change the nature of the crime.
The real complaint is that the student's personal purchases don't remain the student's personal property.
Yes, I believe that is the entire idea: from each according to his (parents') means; to each according to his need. There is a good reason why it is called communal property.
I was in basic training for 11 weeks; each weekend someone's grandmother died and the T.I. took up a collection for flowers which, I presume, were delivered by the time he returned, bleary-eyed, on Monday morning.
My husband picked up the school list of supplies for the Second grade yesterday.
In very big bold letter at the top of the list it states to label EVERYTHING with the child's name.
And abslutely no brand names are listed.
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