Parent Tressa Nichols recommended to the Warsaw School Board Monday night that they either drop workbooks from its curriculum or refund parents money for them.
She argued it wasn’t legal under the Indiana constitution to charge parents 100 percent for workbooks.
After presenting each board member with a packet of information regarding workbooks, Nichols said the Indiana constitution provides for the annual rental rate of textbooks at 25 percent of the retail price. The school corporation is charging 100 percent for workbooks, but she said there are no provisions for it in Indiana code. The only provision for reimbursement of consumables is by the state for low-income families, and by the state for resources which are consumed by the students during the school year such as printed worksheets, pencils, toilet paper, etc.
Schools also must allow students to purchase their own textbooks, Nichols said.
Workbooks, she said, do not fit the definition of textbooks, but parents are charged 100 percent of the cost. There is no provision in state law to allow for workbooks to be reimbursed by parents at 100 percent.
According to information provided by Nichols, under Frequently Asked Questions on the Indiana Department of Education’s website, “The general principle to apply in deciding what resources can be charged as textbooks is that if the resource unit must be purchased for each student or if the resource will be consumed, accessed or used individually by students, then a textbook fee could be applied to cover the cost of the resource.”
She said while school boards can formulate their own policies, they can not contradict the Indiana constitution.
When Nichols met with Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz, she made the recommendation to him that workbooks be taken off the curriculum. Hintz talked to Chief Accountability Officer Tom Kline, she said, and he said they would get on it. Nichols said the school board are elected officials so she wants them to stay on it.
Nichols said it took her two weeks to get answers on her questions, from the state and the school corporation. Teachers are doing a great job meeting standards, and she knows there’s a tightening of the school budget, but when it comes to cutting parents’ expenses, she said it doesn’t seem to mean as much.
She asked the school board to refund parents the difference between 100 percent of the workbook costs and 25 percent allowed for textbooks.
She also said that some workbooks are bought but either rarely used or never used by teachers.
Neither the administration nor school board members commented on Nichols’ remarks at that time.
Later in the meeting, the school board unanimously approved the rental charges for foreign language adoptions of French, Spanish and Chinese at Edgewood and Lakeview middle schools, and Chinese and Spanish for Heritage Speakers at Warsaw Community High School. The fees included workbooks.
Board member Dan Metzger asked if there were any concern with these rentals as they included workbooks.
Hintz said Kline will do a thorough review this year of the school corporation’s textbook rental selection. There’s quite a bit of work to be done, but next year’s textbook adoption won’t be before the board until early 2012. Nichols’ comments certainly will be taken under consideration during the review, Hintz said.
Nichols asked for a time frame and if any changes will be made this year.
Hintz said the fees are set for this school year. They were set in May. At this time, unless the school board decides otherwise, all fees have been publicized, registration has taken place and fees have been paid by parents for the school year.
After asking again for a time frame for a response to her concerns, Hintz said they will be reviewed and he will meet with her within two weeks.
Another woman, sitting with Nichols, said the state has gotten rid of the cursive writing curriculum. Her fourth-grade child has a cursive writing workbook, that now will be used for nine weeks and then returned home for parents to do with it what they want. While she said she knew the school district couldn’t have known the state would make that move, she said now she’s purchased for a workbook that won’t be used.
“It’s easy to spend other people’s money,” Nichols said.
