I received a letter home today from my child's school asking for money to cover fees. We have a lot of supplies left over from previous years (reuse, recycle) so I thought that I would call the school and ask for a list of the needed supplies.
The person that answered the phone said that they do have a list of the needed supplies but that my children would not be able to partake in any projects that required other supplies not included on the list if we didn't buy them; we'd need to buy our own paint, plasticine, pastels, construction paper, etc. They also said that I have to supply a package of paper (500 sheets) for any photocopies throughout the year.
I was very surprised with this statement. I have no problem paying for the basic supplies (pencils, notebooks, erasers, felts, etc) but I was always under the belief that the school supplied the rest. With this in mind I decided to do some research and was very surprised with what I found. In 2006 the BC School Board was sued over the charging of schools fees and the Courts ruled that the schools cannot charge for any materials or equipment required to finish a course leading to graduation.
Also the BC Schools Act states in section 82 that the School Board must provide free of charge educational resource materials necessary to participate in the educational program. I think that we should all question what we are paying for and what our children are entitled to while attending school.
There are also currently two other cases in BC before the Courts for these very same reasons. I understand that the schools need money to operate, but is that not what we pay taxes for?
Jeff B, West Kelowna