Posted on 08/06/2009 1:17:29 PM PDT by Abathar
Indiana 1 Of 3 States With Public School Textbook Rental Fees
INDIANAPOLIS -- In the midst of back-to-school season, expenses for clothing, supplies, backpacks, lunchboxes and the like are expected, but some costs catch parents off guard -- such as rental fees for textbooks.
Indiana is one of just three states in which parents of public school students pay textbook rental fees, which typically run from about $100 to $400 each year, depending on the school district, 6News' Dan Spehler reported.
The additional expense is something that people who move into the area may not be prepared for.
Many parents don't understand why books aren't freely available in the state's public schools.
"It is a lot of money," said one public school parent.
The expenses are especially difficult for families with more than one child in school at the same time.
"I think the school should have to help out a little," said one parent. "They don't, so there's nothing you can do."
Asked if she thought it was unfair to charge rental fees for textbooks, Plainfield Community School Corp. assistant superintendent Mary Giesting said, "I don't believe it is. Here at Plainfield, I believe the average cost is about $100."
In some school districts, such as Carmel and Center Grove, textbook rentals for high school students cost up to $400 a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
We knew it was coming and so we have it set aside in our budget, but there seems to be a lot of angry parents this year who can't find the money they are asking for to send their kids to public school.
I wonder what they will do if a kids parents don't have the cash due to unemployment or other hardship? Send them home? I will have to ask one of my kids teachers that question, be interesting to hear the response.
My kids are through public school but I wonder, what in the heck is the estimated cost to educate a child in Indiana this year? Wasn't it something like 16,000 dollars per child recently? I could be way off but seems like I remember that figure...and it it is TRUE.....WHAT IN THE HECK ARE THEY DOING WITH ALL THAT MONEY....cost of three kids would MORE than pay one teacher's salary....my gosh....private school begins to look doable.
You bring up an interesting scenario. I’m bettin’ that the gov’t (you!) will be payin’ for those who claim that they cannot.
Levelin’ the playin’ field.
What the hell is this BS? Isn’t this what school taxes are supposed to be paying for?!?
The NEA thinks that fighting for same sex marriage rights is a bigger issue.
Let us know!
The books, bought with your tax dollars and rented back to you for a fee.
homeschool supporters in 3...2...1...
Why can’t the books be online or on a CD? Wouldn’t that help lower the cost & eliminate the problem of lost &/or damaged books? I suppose not everybody would have a computer, but most kids would.
I’m down here in Martintucky, my daughter is a senior this year and that will be about $350 for the classes she is taking.
I imagine Carmel and other districts would be a lot higher, which also begs the question - Why? Are their books better quality so they cost more? I think the schools must be subsidizing some of their other projects with this money also for their to be so much difference in cost of school books.
I decided to take a few college courses. So, for the past year or so I have taken a couple each semester, and the price of my textbooks is more than tuition. It is incredible to me that books cost so much. I try to understand the business model is such that books must sell for higher prices than a novel, but the prices for textbooks are ridiculous.
Again, Why is it that we pay taxes?
My question exactly!
Limit will be $88,000 for a family of four? :-)
ping for your list
Good question, the law says that children HAVE to be offered a public education. I imagine there are many parents that can’t pay and probably some that just refuse to pay. My guess would be that those that pay for books are forced to share with the deadbeats
“I wonder what they will do if a kids parents don’t have the cash due to unemployment or other hardship? “
Here in Elkhart Co. they send it in for collection. And then if the fees aren’t paid they hold your kid’s diploma until they are paid. My daughter had $1.00 balance for a library book she ruined (which I remember paying for several times!) and they held her diploma. She had to go in and pay it again. She had friends who’s parent owed hundreds. Of course they still graduated but they just don’t get that piece of paper that the rest of the kids get.
And of course the parents get hounded by the collection agency until they pay up. I’m not excusing the not paying, after all I paid for my kids but it’s just kinda crappy the way they treat you.
I think that you have to calculate eligibility via a number of factors. Race, of course, will be the major contributing factor. :-o
When we moved down here from Michigan and they told us we would have to pay to send our kids to public schools we just sat there stunned. Then they told us how much it would be and we about s***.
Dear parents:
My family paid all the taxes required to send your kids to school while educating me and my siblings at home at my parents’ expense. Now I am planning to pay my taxes to pay for your kids while paying out of pocket to educate my own. Over my lifetime I expect I will pay many thousands of dollars toward your kids’ “education” in a system that I consider a miserable failure.
Please do not expect me to give a damn if you are asked to pay a little more for your own spawn. You certainly don’t care when I’m asked to pay for them.
Locally they are doing everything they can to raise money for schools and everything else. Realtors were just told they would assess a line on foreclosed property of $5000 if the property is not maintained to standards. Schools are adding fees for anything they can.
A number of years ago, there was a story about students who had their school supplies taken away from them and redistributed to “less fortunate” children. Maybe they’ll do the same with your kids’ books.
Not getting your diploma that you earned unless you pay their fee? That’s BS imho.
I wonder if anyone has gotten serious and taken this whole fee thing to court and fought it there yet.
They will probably come asking you for more money so the children don’t suffer.
They have had these fees forever, that is why there isn’t a big stink.
If it was a new thing they started there would be hell to pay.
Tuition for my 3 kids for the upcoming (Catholic) school year: $6500 (total for the 3).
Books and other fees: Approx. $550.
Clothes (uniforms, shoes, socks, etc.): At least $200.
Fundraisers, Scouting and other extracurricular activies: Unknown at this time
Knowing that my kids won't set foot in the local public school: Priceless.
Don't forget the property taxes we pay to support the local public school...and before I'm flamed, we have an income of $3600/month, which pays the mortgage, utilities, gas for the cars, food, church giving, tuition, and all the various expenses for a family of six humans and four animals. We're not wealthy by any means--nine year old and 21 year old cars (but they're paid for), an older home, shopping clearance and consignment, pretty much no eating out, no credit cards and pretty much no debt (except the house).
My husband is adamant after 12 years of public schooling that he would not subject his kids to it unless it was an absolute last resort. It might mean a more frugal lifestyle, but you better believe it's worth it.
Hey, they have to pay the teachers unions their salary when they tazke theit month long Christmas... I mean “Winter” break. and then their week off 2 times a year, and then the whole stinking summer off! Come on, pay up, these poooooor teachers really need it.
Not in the town I live in. Last year my son still went to a religious “weekday” every Thursday at a church across the street for a non-denominational bible study for an hour during classtime.
Not all public schools are yet as bad as others. (Thank G_d)
If it’s like around here, they start with a low fee, and jack it each month.
We just got our car insurance bill with a State tax of $9 that just showed up.
I am a 1969 graduate from a suburban HS near Indianapolis, and every year we had to pay book rental.
You can get a lot of your books on ebay and other outlets....college kids are always putting them up for sale after the semester or quarter is over. It might help ya save a bundle and some of them come in perfect condition!
Textbooks are one of the biggest rackets going.
It goes to the union teachers and 'administrative costs.' The unions now have a strangle-hold on education.
I think what hurts people the most is that it’s all due right up front when school starts in one lump sum.
For a lot of people (especially now) that is a big chunk of change to cough up when they don’t even tell you how much it is until about 2 weeks before school starts.
There are a lot of poor people in this area that $400 bucks is a big hit to them.
I have tried to use online books and it does not work for my old brain. I need a book that I can flip the pages. Maybe younger folks can utilize online books better than I, but it doesn’t work for me. The other issue with online books is that there is no defined format for books. They come in may types from a sophisticated interactive website, to text, or a simple pdf file. Maybe using a dedicated device like a ‘Kindle’ would make textbooks more friendly for me, but the expense is not worth the gamble.
We can see that all that tax money for education is being well spent, LOL! I doubt that half the idiots in the teacher’s union even use the texts, but I would bet that they have a stake in the money that they get from them. How many are on the Bill Ayers recommended reading list?
Just one more reason to get government out of schools.
Find out what textbook your child's class is using and order it from the publisher. I bet you can get it for a lot less than one hundred dollars.
Wow. I never heard or even imagined of such a thing. Glad my youngest just graduated from high school. (Off to college next week. sniff, sniff-please pass the kleenex)
The fewer they print, the more each book costs. I’m not sure what a typical run of a textbook is, but I bet its less than the average hardback.
Probably costs more to produce them, too.
>It goes to the union teachers and ‘administrative costs.’ >The unions now have a strangle-hold on education.
This is the whole point of 0bamacare, to give
the unions a strangle-hold on health care.
I spend on average more than $100.00 per book.
They already do. School lunches and breakfast too.
Yes, but the question is did you ever have to pay for your schoolbooks in high school, middle school, or in elementary? Parents do not include cost of books in the budgeting because that is what their taxes are supposed to pay.
Seriously, it costs my hubby and I the about the same ($600) to homeschool both of our children each year. It could cost us less annually, but I prefer owning our books to renting them from the library.
I averaged about 6 classes per year. At $400 that would be $66 per book. Enough high school texts are printed that their costs are lower than college texts. It would probably be cheaper to just buy the books from a discount place like Amazon and burn them on June 1st than to rent them for $400.
Allowing for inflation, that sounds similar to what I paid for new books.
Needless to say, I didn’t buy many new books...
On the bright side, you get a little back when you sell them.
You can also get used textbooks at ABE:
http://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/?cm_ven=homepage&cm_cat=sitestripe&cm_pla=link&cm_ite=TBC-Summer09
Just another reason I’m glad to be able to homeschool my son.
I haven’t heard of text book rental fees before? Must be to insure that the kid doesn’t destroy the book? Does it get retuened if the kid turns the book back in or does the school keep it and why if it is returned in good shape?
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