[kmomteach]

Today I posted an article dealing with the Waiver of Fees for school children. While many children can recevie free or reduced lunch and breakfast charges some can also receive exemption from paying school fees such as supply fees and field trip cost. The fees are not supplemented from anyone else such as the government. Therefore teachers are left to take care fo the extra cost which usually comes back to the paying parents. How do you feel about this? Should parents be exmpt from paying or buying school supplies and field trip cost for their children?

[twinzplus3]

Yes. They should be exempt if need be. However, in schools where there are substantial numbers of children who would qualify as exempt, there are alternative programs so that a few parents are not paying for the majority of the kids. There's just too much free $$ out there that's not being utilized to force kids who can't pay to pay. If public school is free. . .so that all children can receive a good education. . .then it needs to be free.

[kmomteach]

True. The sad thing is that the money usually never makes it to the right place where the need is.

[twinzplus3]

Don't get me started on that one. . .

[Samual]

Here those who are on benefits receive free school dinners upto a certain amount, at our school it is £2 a day. They are however still expected to pay for school trips, funds barely pay for books and equipment nevermind school trips. Very rarely are school trips expensive though, the average cost would be about £15.

[MissyChrissy]

In a public school the extra stuff needs to be free to the kids from lower income families. It's only fair that ALL the children are provided with the same opportunities.