Finding the administration’s answers unsatisfactory, parent Tressa Nichols plans to return to the Warsaw School Board Monday night to discuss fees charged to parents by the school corporation that she thinks are illegal.
“This is pretty clear,” Nichols said during an interview Monday afternoon. “I would expect them to come back with some response, and if they don’t, I’ll have to get a lawyer.”
Nichols hopes other parents will join her at the 7 p.m. meeting Monday to get answers from the elected school board. More parents at the meeting would help send a message to the board, she said.
“If I’m the only parent making a fuss, then the school board doesn’t have to take me seriously unless I get a lawyer,” she said.
Nichols first presented the issues to the board at the Aug. 22 meeting after having met with the administration. After the board meeting, she received a letter dated Aug. 30 from Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz, who had consulted legal representation. Nichols found the letter, which she provided a copy of, “condescending.”
The second paragraph of Hintz’s letter states: “The state constitution doesn’t say schools must provide a free education, they just are not allowed to charge tuition. Schools have the duty to purchase appropriate textbooks and related integral materials, and schools in Indiana have the authority to charge rental for them.”
Nichols said she knows education isn’t free and that as a parent she has some responsibility. But she believes she is being charged for things the school is not legally allowed to charge for.
Nichols said she has three main points.
First, it is illegal for schools to charge school fees, she said. Warsaw Schools charges a $7 fine arts fee, separate from books. Nichols said the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that schools can not charge for anything but textbooks. In Hintz’s letter, Nichols said, he ignored that point altogether. The fine arts fee is illegal and parents need to be reimbursed for it, she said.
Secondly, she said, is the issue of workbooks. Schools are only allowed to charge for textbooks at 25 percent of the cost, however, workbooks are charged at 100 percent of the cost. Indiana law does not provide for the 100 percent reimbursement by parents of consumables. The only provision for reimbursement for consumables is by the state for low-income families, and by the state for resources which are consumed by students during the school year such as printed worksheets, toilet paper, pencils, etc. Schools also must allow students to purchase their own textbooks.
In Hintz’s letter, he states, “While there is no direct definition in Indiana code that defines a textbook versus supplemental or consumable material, the critical point that distinguishes what category an item falls in and in turn how it is charged is whether or not the student may keep it or must return it at the end of the school year.”
Nichols previously e-mailed and received a response back from Melissa Ambre, Indiana Department of Education. The e-mail stated, “I believe IC 20-33-5-7 is the language governing a school’s reimbursement for textbook costs. It seems reasonable that the same items that may be claimed for reimbursement by the state could be claimed for reimbursement from a paying student/parent.”
Hintz’s letter regarding Ambre’s comment states: “First on the workbook issue, your response from Melissa Ambre at the DOE pointed you in the right direction by referencing IC 20-33-5-7. Please look at subdivision (2) and (5). They speak to the distinction between textbooks, workbooks and developmentally appropriate materials. Section (5) states, ‘that the amount of reimbursement requested for each workbook or consumable textbook ... under subdivision (2)(8), if applicable, does not exceed (100%) of the costs incurred for the workbook or consumable textbook.’ This statement in the code allows schools to charge 100% of the purchase cost of a workbook. A workbook is an item that is not required to be returned and remains with the student after completion of the class. Thus, WCS will continue to charge 100% for workbooks.”
But Nichols said the code pointed out by Hintz only applies to reimbursement by the state for students eligible for assistance. Her children brought home about 200 worksheets this year, which are not a required to be returned, yet she is not charged for any of them. The only difference is that the workbooks are bound together.
By Hintz’s logic, Nichols said that if he is going to apply that rule to parents, then the entire section has to be applied to parents. That sections allows states to deny reimbursement, so parents would be able to deny reimbursement. But parents can’t deny reimbursement, so the logic doesn’t work, Nichols claims.
The third point, she said, is whether or not parents can purchase their own textbooks. At the first meeting, Nichols said she was told she absolutely could not do that.
Hintz’s letter states Nichols may purchase her own textbooks provided that she purchase the exact same book or books being used in the classroom in the current year. Charges for workbooks and other items will still be charged.
Out of 10 items Nichols is being assessed for this year, she said it is possible for her to only purchase two of them. The rest are classroom kits.
“If I can’t buy it, you can’t charge me for it,” Nichols said. “Parents have to be able to buy their textbooks and that’s part of the definition of textbooks for me.”
When Nichols first met with Hintz, he told her she didn’t need to go to the school board because they would throw it back to him. But the school board is supposed to represent her and hear her, she said. The board did listen to her at the Aug. 22 meeting, and turned it back to the administration. After meeting with Hintz again, she is still not satisfied and wants the board to engage in the issue.
“The answer is totally unsatisfactory, so will the school board get involved in it now?” she asked. “The Supreme Court is more than willing to side with parents. They don’t like the way schools are handling textbooks. I’m hoping the board will be more aware of what’s right and wrong and not push it to that level.”
