By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Hoosier parents are no longer on the hook for textbook costs, but many are seeing bills for other fees increasingly being charged by schools.

State lawmakers dedicated $160 million in the new state budget to eliminate textbook and curriculum fees, starting with the 2023-24 academic year.

While the new law was championed by state officials, school districts are left trying to figure out what they have to cover and what they don’t — especially when it comes to advanced classes and career development courses.

There’s no consensus yet for what types of fees are still being charged by individual Indiana schools and districts. Some contacted by the Indiana Capital Chronicle said they had totally eliminated all education-related fees — at least for the current school year.

Other district officials said they interpreted the new curriculum law differently and will continue to bill parents for certain college-level course materials and school management software like Skyward.

“I guess I just thought my family wasn’t going to have to pay anything this year,” said Michele Todd, whose three kids attend Carmel Clay Schools, just north of Indianapolis. Todd said school fees for each of her three kids totaled between $150 and $250 last year. She owes less than $30 for each of her students this year, mostly for art supplies in her elementary schooler’s class, and science lab materials in her high school-aged kids’ courses.

“Don’t get me wrong…we’re only being charged a fraction of what we were before,” Todd continued. “But it’s almost a matter of principle…aren’t our fees supposed to be zeroed out?”

What schools can still charge parents

In recent academic years, annual textbook fees for a single Hoosier student averaged from $80 to $200. The amount billed varied significantly, however, depending on a student’s grade level and what district they attended.

Fees at some schools escalated into the hundreds of dollars per student as course materials transitioned from traditional books to technology-centered resources like iPads and Chromebook tablets, for example. On top of that, many families continue to dish out additional dollars for school supplies, calculators, sports fees and band rentals.

The $160 million budget allocation for “curricular materials” by the 2023 General Assembly has since shifted the responsibility for paying the fees to the state. Taxpayer dollars already cover the cost of textbooks for students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals.

The law itself is somewhat vague though, saying public schools must “provide curricular materials to students at no cost,” but that parents can be charged “a reasonable fee for lost or significantly damaged curricular materials.”

In May, the Indiana Department of Education issued guidance to local school officials about what counts as “curriculum materials.”

The department defines those as “books; hardware that will be consumed, accessed, or used by a single student during a semester or school year; computer software; and digital content.”

That includes one-to-one laptops or tablets given to students in some districts. Materials for advanced placement, dual credit, and career technical education courses — but not dual enrollment courses — also count as curricular materials, according to IDOE.

But schools are still allowed to charge families non-curricular fees and for other odds and ends, and for lost or damaged items. Parents in some districts are additionally offered the option to pay for insurance that covers technology used by their students. School districts cannot require parents to pay for that insurance, however.

Even so, IDOE’s guidance instructs districts to consult their own legal counsel about their ability to charge “other fees.”

In the Eastern Howard School Corporation, each student in grades 1-12 will be charged $36.80 “to cover the costs of non-curricular expenses that the corporation has absorbed in the past,” according to the district.

District business manager Travis Hueston said that includes costs for Skyward — an online school management software — and Skylert, which allows the district to send notifications to students and families about delays, closures and other information. Hueston said Eastern Howard’s financial officers divided the cost of those services by the estimated number of students enrolled in the district to determine how much each child and their family should be charged.

“It’s still a mystery to most of us I believe,” Hueston said about the rollout of the new law and determining what can and can’t be billed to families. “In my opinion, there are still a lot of wrinkles to iron out on the whole thing. And it’s still in flux — determining, do we want to charge anything? If we feel like we can, like we’re allowed to, we’re also asking, do we want to?”

The nearby Northwestern School Corporation said it will charge $48.31 per student in grades K-6, and $41.77 for each student in grades 7-12, to cover “communication services.” A fee breakdown provided by the district shows charges of $14.46 for Skyward and $6.07 for Synovia, as well as similar fees for Google Classroom and other services.

“Schools will be allotted a limited reimbursement from the state regardless of the cost to the school,” the district said on its website. “Unfortunately, these additional costs to the school budget will be withdrawn from the education fund, which is the fund that we use to pay our staff.”

The communication services fees are intended to “bridge the gap, limit the withdrawal from the education fund, and maintain our systems of communication services,” including for busing notifications, school cancellations and delays, and access to student management documents and grades.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections.

See the original story posted here.