It’s that time of the year again. Notices of school fees will be going home in school bags soon. It seems parents never know what to expect and how much of a bill they will be facing.
Schools are funded in part through provincial government revenues and land taxes which result in no tuition fees. The provincial government provides funding for transportation of students who live within a 2.4 km radius of their school. All schools in Alberta receive the same access to funding through the provincial government. They also have the same allowance to charge fees and fundraise to make up funds for extra activities. All schools offer programs to give families struggling to pay school fees some relief.
“At the division level the textbook fee is $65. The school division sets that.” principal at DVSS Curtis LaPierre said. “Our biggest fees really come in for options like foods, building construction, automotive, and welding where we have to buy supplies. For example for foods, when a student takes the foods program they pay a $30 fee. I usually run 22 kids in that class so that’s $660 but that class will cost me nearly $2,000 for groceries. So the fees never cover the costs of the supplies and we try to keep them as minimum as possible.”
Other fees that are added are dependent upon if a student is involved in specific sports such as basketball, volleyball or badminton. The extra fees cover travel expenses for the teams and any rentals they may need.
LaPierre said, “We run an Instructional Media Centre in Strathmore for our school division which is kind of a warehouse of educational supplies. If I need a class set of a novel, I call them up and say, ‘hey can you send me these novels?’, then I send them back when we are done with them. The school also has a program that families can apply to help offset school fees. We don’t want to leave out anyone.”
Michael Kilcommons, assistant superintendent of Christ the Redeemer School Division, gives an example of the layout of fees for schools in the Christ the Redeemer School Division.
There is an instructional resource fee that differs between $50 and $65, depending on the grade, with a maximum of $170 per family. This fee covers textbooks and supplies for core subjects just like Golden Hills School Division. On top of the division fees, there is a co-curricular fee that is also different between grades.
Kilcommons said, “In the younger grades this mainly is used to help with the cost of field trips and can be applied towards gym outings. The co-curricular fee isn’t enough to cover things like swimming lessons, basketball or band.”
It’s really up to the school on how to make up for the extra costs not covered by these fees. As Kilcommons explained, some schools fundraise and some implement extra fees.
Kilcommons said, “When there are any kind of fees involved, we won’t deny anyone anything.”
Christ the Redeemer School Division has a policy that allows the principal to assess the situation and personally make a decision to waive fees for a family in need.
“Before being an assistant superintendent, I was a principal and because I personally knew the students and their needs, I was able to make decisions on who was accepted for the help getting into the sports or options they were interested in,” Kilcommons said.
Most schools have programs available for those struggling to pay their fees as well as discounts for families with multiple children.
Other minor fees that may be extra include yearbooks, school council or Grade 12 commencement fees.
Both Kilcommons and LePierre agree that both schools hope to someday be fee free but it’s pretty much impossible to keep the standard of Alberta education where it is and have no fees.
