Dear Parent/Guardian:

On October 2, 2006, the Supreme Court of British Columbia struck down part of the School Board Fees Order. This now places greater limits on the type of fees that schools may charge.

Some media reports have incorrectly characterized the court order as “no school fees” allowed. Please see below for those circumstances in which fees are not allowed and those in which fees are permissible:

Fees NOT permissible for:

• Resource materials necessary to participate in an educational program sufficient to meet the general requirements for graduation.
• Field trips that are a requirement of a course.

Fees ARE permissible for:

• School supplies and equipment for a student’s individual use (e.g. paper, pens, computer diskettes) if provided through the school
• Optional materials that enhance prescribed learning outcomes (e.g. finer grade of wood than basic quality provided by school for woodworking courses)
• Optional field trips (subject to hardship policies allowing those who cannot afford the fee to participate)
• Extracurricular activities (e.g. basketball team expenses)
• Optional purchase of student-made projects (e.g. a dress made in sewing class) but limited to the cost of materials
• Appropriate personal clothing for school activities if provided through the school (e.g. Gym strip)
• Charges to rent a musical instrument IF other instruments are available to the student without charge.
• Damage deposits, locker rentals,
• Student activity fees, grad fees, yearbooks.

For more detailed information about school fees and the court order, please access the BC School Trustees Association website, www.bcsta.org

All schools in the district have been asked to submit a schedule of all fees charged to the district office for review. Any non-compliance with the court order will be corrected for the 2007/08 school year. At this point we have not received any information indicating that court order is retroactive to fees pertaining to the current school year.

The district will also ask schools to engage in discussion with teachers and parents on the greater philosophical questions surrounding fees, e.g., “The funding districts receive to deliver educational programs is sufficient to deliver a basic program leading to graduation; should the Ministry of Education fund the enriched experiences we have added to that program?” and, “Will the new fee regulations create inequities of access to enriched/optional experiences?”

We thank you in advance for your patience as we delve into the ramifications of this ruling and for your input to the discussion.

Yours truly,

Doug Pearson, Superintendent