By Lisa Reddy
With the high costs of rent, gas and food, many parents are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for school fees and city council is calling on the provincial government to ease this burden on low-income families.
In letters sent Feb.13 to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Community and Social Services, city council asked the provincial government to fund “essential” school fees.
These fees include money for textbooks, agendas and musical instruments, says Christina Marchant, of the Ottawa Child Poverty Action Group.
In March 2005, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board issued guidelines, classifying fees for “course essentials” as optional, and making it the responsibility of principals to let this be known. Lynn Graham, chair of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, says not everyone is aware of these guidelines, which causes problems for low-income families.
“I think (school fees) can be a burden on certain families, and we are concerned with this,” she says. “If we hear of instances where a child cannot pay, we look into them.”
The letters sent to the provincial government also ask that more attention be paid to the actual financial burden school fees create.
Cliff Gazee, of Ottawa’s poverty issues advisory committee, is among those calling for a decrease in school fees. His 14-year-old daughter attends Glebe Collegiate Institute and Gazee says he is regularly told to pay fees, voluntary or not.
Gazee estimates he spent more than $140 on his daughter’s supplies last semester. He says her elementary school fees were about the same, but adds he’s heard of some parents spending between $200 and $300 per child annually.
This money went toward agendas and workbooks, says Gazee, as well as some “non-essentials” (including a $150 fee for her Grade 8 graduation) which if not paid for would have made his daughter feel left out.
This prospect of being singled out as the “poor kid” weighs heavily on a student, says Marchant.
“It’s an experience of stigmatization,” says Marchant. “It’s creating a lot of embarrassment which is not conducive to public education.”
Marchant says she has heard of children who have not paid their fees having their names read over the school PA system. In a few schools, students are not given access to workbooks until they pay their fees, she says.
Marchant says that in some instances, namely with field trips meant for educational purposes, students miss out on learning which creates a “two-tiered education system.” Some schools save money to subsidize events or activities low-income children cannot afford, but most parents aren’t aware of this, says Marchant.
About 18 per cent of Ottawa’s population lives below the poverty line, says Coun. Alex Cullen, and the current system of school fees is “further disadvantaging the disadvantaged.”
Gazee, Marchant and Cullen agree the issue of school fees lies mainly with the money provided by the provincial government and Ottawa is not alone in lobbying this issue. Parents in Orillia are also asking school boards and the government to lessen the burden of high school fees.
Both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Community and Social Services were unavailable for comment, but in the meantime area parents wait for the province’s response to city council’s letter — a response Gazee is hoping will bring positive news. “I think the letter, plus the mechanisms in there to inform the province, may trigger a reaction to solve the problem,” he says. “We have to realize that not only is this affecting the poor kids in the community, but it’s affecting the principle of public education.”