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CAL SCHOOLS STILL CHARGING FEES AFTER ACLU LAWSUIT SETTLED

AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
New penalties proposed for banned school fees

January 26, 2011 | Corey G. Johnson

School districts that violate the state's guarantee to a free education by illegally charging fees for classroom and extracurricular activities would have a portion of their annual budget withheld under newly proposed legislation.

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, requires annual audits of school districts to make sure they are not making parents and children pay for uniforms, classroom materials and extra activities, like cheerleading.

For those districts that won't comply, the state controller will withhold 1 percent of their total funding for administrative costs. The money will not be released until a full reimbursement, with interest, is made to all parents, guardians and pupils for the violation, the bill states.

Lara's bill, AB 165, is the first attempt to add teeth to California's long standing decree that public school education is free. It comes in the wake of a recent settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the state of California over the matter.

The legislation also requires school districts to create a complaint process for parents. Under the process, if parents are unhappy with a decision by the school principal or superintendent, their concern about charges can be heard by the local school board and, if needed, the State Board of Education. All written grievances and responses created under the complaint process must be available to the public, upon request, the bill states.

The recent move to stamp out illegal fees has triggered strong reactions.

Earlier this month, Joseph Farley, superintendent of Capistrano Unified, sent out letters to parents, warning that the ban on fees would impact school district "traditions that go back many years." Farley's letter, dated Jan. 7, stated that the district would empanel a task force to examine and revise school policies. It also stated:

“All supplies, athletic equipment, musical instruments, materials and uniforms, for curricular and extracurricular activities, must be provided to pupils free of charge.

The settlement agreement in this matter includes strict enforcement of this law and includes accompanying auditing provisions and penalties to guarantee its enforcement. This will have a major impact on practices in most California school districts.

”In November, Clovis Unified paid three families $250,000 to settle a 2009 lawsuit over illegal fees. About $25,000 of the settlement was set aside for 18 months in case new allegations of illegal charges surfaced, according to the Fresno Bee.

Still, others have been slow to curb illegal practices. Weeks ago, a whistleblower accused several schools of not allowing non-paying students to participate in activities.

Pay-to-play has been illegal in California since April 1984. That year, the state Supreme Court ruled schools that charge children to participate in extracurricular activities violate the state's constitutional guarantee to a free education.


http://californiawatch.org/dai...ned-school-fees-8270
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AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
There are many schools still I know in So Cal that are charging fees to play baseball. Many schools are collecting fees set up by coaches as they are paying themselves. In 1984 the State Supreme Court ruled that no fees can be charged for students for school related activities.

This past Fall in September the ACLU filed a lawsuit for the illegal practices of schools charging fees that ranged from lab classes, transportation, cheerleading and after school sports activities. The lawsuit was settled in December. The lawsuit made it where that no fees can be charged to students and that they could not charge for spirit packs. Also, that how some schools were doing their fundraising tactics were considered illegal.

I know that there are several schools that are still charging fees for baseball. I am curious to know what schools do you know out there that are charging fees and what amounts are they charging.
BOFBOF10,000+ posts
Schools will continue to charge fees for baseball but make them "suggested" and not mandatory. In our case the fees are around $200 for freshmen and then it drops down to $50 for upper classmen. Our fees are only for the purchase of uniforms. The baseball booster club funds everything else other than the mowing of the grass and water, which the district pays for and I believe the head coaches stipend. We also pay a separate transportation fee of $80 for bus transportation to league games only. These all seem reasonable and necessary to run the program, regardless of what the idiots at the ACLU think.

Obviously you cannot run a program on these fees only, we have baseballs, bats, field maintenance, and lots of other infrastructure costs that the school district cannot afford. To solve this we have a booster club that is organized as a 501(c3) organization that generates the rest of the operating budget and for the past 4 years have put in substantial improvements to our facility and we have voted to pay the other coaches a small stipend. We have purchased field maintenance equipment, rebuilt both the Varsity and JV fields, put in a clubhouse and numerous other improvements too long to list here for the betterment of HS baseball. We also have had a long-standing tradition of paying the HS fees for any player who cannot afford the small fees that the district charges. In our case it all works just fine and many kids get to play HS baseball with safe fields and equipment.

I think the ACLU folks frankly barking up the wrong tree. In this day and age of reduced education budgets the only way to pay for HS sports are from the families of the participants so nominal fees seem appropriate, and legal and properly organized booster clubs fund the rest. Make the fees “suggested” and most parents will happily pay the fees for their kids to participate in their respective HS sports. If a family can’t afford the fees then they should not be made to pay them, but I find it hard to believe that a kid could not go out and raise a few hundred $$ so he could play a sport if he really wanted to. I see nothing wrong with this and I am not really sure of the purpose of your post, but I think this addresses your question.
CADadCADad5,000+ posts
I have no problem with fees as long as the families who can't afford them don't have to pay. The simple reality is that the schools can't afford to pay for the programs and we want the programs to continue. Back before this decision we paid a fair amount for the spirit packs, but the amount was kept to less than the actual costs through other fundraising. The coaches, some of whom I liked, some of whom I didn't, all more than earned whatever small stipend they got especially the ones running the JV and freshman programs.

The only place I disagree with BOF a bit is for the kids to have to go out and raise the money. If a kid is coming from a situation where money is extremely tight, especially in a situation where money is extremely tight in that community it is not going to be realistic for a whole team to fundraise and cover expenses.

I agree that the ACLU is barking up the wrong tree. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing the wealthier districts asked to contribute to the programs in the poorer districts as that would help to ensure the best possible competition now and in the future.
Last edited by CADad
AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
The post was to address in which there are quite a few more schools charging fees and doing more than you think. Palm Desert HS as an example had over $100,000 in their booster club. That money ended up not being accounted for. Turns out the coaches were using the monies in the account for personal use.

I talked with Candance Garvey from Palm Desert and she is the one that has brought to the attention of the school in which the monies was going into the Cheerleading and she kept asking questions of where the money was going. Nobody would give her any true questions.

She was upset with the fact that they had made everything mandatory to pay the fees. She told me of a mother that sold her car so that her daughter was be able to participate in their program. She couldn't pay it and did what they could to get it done as she didn't have the money so she sold her car. Until she sold her car, her daughter was treated poorly and they were being harassed as if the teachers were creditors to pay the money. They kept at it, until she paid.

There are so many examples like this and if they don't pay they get ridiculed about it. That is why there is 2 lawsuits because of this with 2 South Orange County students.

I think this is the major problem where there are many people that are asked to either fundraise the money or pay it. The monies are out of control with this. The fees are now up in the $1,500 to $3,000 for sports depending on the schools.

Do you both feel this is right? Each student has a right to be able to participate in a sport and not be rediculed if they can't afford it. There are alot more than you think.

Westlake High School is another example. Each player is to pay $400 for the Spring, $400 for the Summer and $400 to the Fall. This is required by the coach. Each payment that is paid is distributed. $300 into a separate account that the coaches use it for their own person use and another $100 into the booster account. They have an average of 75 players each year pay this fee.

Do you think that is ok to do this?

Riverside Poly HS last year required each player to either pay $1,700 or fundraise it. There are more of this from many schools just with baseball.
AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
Here is another example of the schools not abiding to the decision of the State Sumpreme Court.

Temecula Valley was told that they can not charge fees for traveling to games. What decided to do is to still charge the students to pay. But don't put it into print anywhere so that they won't have a paper trail. The are violating a court order as they were told by the courts to stop doing and they continue to do it.

So you are saying that it is ok to violate a court order and turn your head? I don't think that is the way it should happen. There are many people in this day and time who cannot afford to pay to play sports in high school as the fees are out of control in which the coaches are asking of parents and players.
Last edited by ABD Bulldogs
BOFBOF10,000+ posts
I agree with you that kids should not have to pay if their families cannot afford the fees and they should be reasonable. I would venture to say that the situations you are referring to are in the minority as there are around 2,000 of schools in California so there will always be a few problems. It is up to the parents in the school district to bring these situations to the attention of the school administration and deal with the issue locally. Booster Clubs have issues, which is why it is important to have sound bylaws, good oversight and transparency in them. Again this is the responsibility of the local parents in these programs. I know that one of the clubs at my son’s school had some issues and it was dealt with by the school administration.

As far as transportation fees, I have no problem paying $80 for a bus fee for my son to travel to a game regardless what the Supreme Court says, it is an extra curricular event and he is using the bus so it seems reasonable to pay the fee. The options would be 1) have parents drive 2) have kids drive 3) not have any games, so the transportation fee is a reasonable alternative IMO.

As far as the other situations we have brought up the local parents should deal with them.
C cabbagedadHSBaseballWeb member since 2011
For us, varsity packs are about $75, JV a bit less. The players pay about $100 transportation fee. Packs include the basics...
*1 hat
*1 micro tee (worn under jerseys/vests)
*1 practice tee
*1 pullover for cold weather
*1 pr socks
*1 belt

Players buy thier own cleats and any extra's based on what they can afford. We've used the same uni's for several years. Our HC makes a very small stipend and assistants are unpaid volunteers. I thought this was on the low side but close to the norm with today's budget and economic woes. Most of our players are multi-sport, so they get hit with this x2 or x3. With the legal issue, we are told to emphasize that these fees are not mandatory. Along with this, many of our fundraising efforts were thwarted for fear that there would be other legal ramifications. This will start to make things very difficult for our school and others.
Some of the fees quoted on this thread are scary and, IMO, way over the top. But, I agree with BOF and CADad in that the only way that HS sports will continue will be with nominal fees from participants' families. I'm afraid these legal actions will seriously threaten the existence of HS sports and other extra-curricular activities.

ABD, what do you think the right direction is?
Last edited by cabbagedad
BOFBOF10,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by cabbagedad:
ABD, what do you think the right direction is?


Have the HS play for free so the travel and scout teams can charge exorbitant fees……

BTW I do agree that Valencia is a bit over the top. Again it shoud be a local issue. Valencia is a very successful program so there must be some good things going on there.
Last edited by BOF
AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
The $1,200 was not for uniforms, it was only for playing on the baseball team.

They paid an additional $400 for uniforms, $250 for their trip for Arizona and $120 for transportation fee.

The $67,500 for the coaches where they pay themselves and then the $22,500 in the Booster Club money. Where does that go?

The money that Westlake is paying shouldn't be acceptable at all even if parents can pay for it.
CADadCADad5,000+ posts
ABD,
I understand that you are addressing the legal aspects. BOF and I are addressing what is right. Those may be two different things in this case.

I think it may be stupid to ignore a court order but it may also be the right thing to do. As long as nobody is denied the right to play based on their income and everyone gets the same gear regardless of their income then I don't think there's a problem.

Let's look at the Valencia spirit pack

2 hats - they only need one.
2 practice shirts - they don't need any.
Easton shirt - they don't need any.
Sweats - they don't need them
Summer/Fall Jersey - they don't need them
spikes - each family can buy their own and it shouldn't be a mandatory part of the spirit pack.

The only thing they are purchasing that comes under the ruling is one cap unless of course both caps are extras. Is the price exorbitant? You bet it is. They aren't charging for a uniform (summer/fall don't count) or equipment so the key is that any player who's family can't afford the spirit pack gets it anyways. As long as that happens the rule and the spirit of the law have been followed.

I don't know the situation in Valencia but have you considered that part of the high price may be that they have to cover the families who can't afford the spirit packs? That added to the price of our spirit packs back in the day. We simply took the costs, determined how many families could pay, reduced the costs by any budget surplus and then split the costs between the families who could pay.
Last edited by CADad
AB ABD Bulldogs10+ posts
CADad,

I only wanted to bring to the attention of what is happening and not to say that they shouldn't charge fees. It is something that seems that it is necessary to do in order to continue the sport in schools.

This is going into the direction where high school sports may no longer be around as this is being discussed in many schools to drop it. We must look at how things are happening in our state where if the schools are unable to charge fees, then there will be no other choice to drop sports.

I know that there are several lawsuits that schools are being sued because of schools ignoring the law. Palm Desert HS principal was fired because of their booster club dealings. I know that there will be several parents who will be suing the school because it is alledged that coaches involved were using the money that was being raised and monies paid by parents for their own personal use.
CADadCADad5,000+ posts
There are always bad apples when it comes to money. There are also people who simply don't know the rules and mess up.

I wonder if a fair portion of that money that Palm Desert allegedly mis-spent was donated by Mark Cresse? He's a good guy and pretty active with travel teams out that way.

I agree the ACLU lawsuit could have a negative effect on HS sports. The ACLU sometimes does things that hurt everyone instead of helping the disadvantaged.
Last edited by CADad
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