Local high schools say they don’t see the province’s recently released guidelines on school fees having much of an impact.
The new rules make it clear that no student will have to pay fees “for any learning materials or activities needed to graduate” and require all schools to publicly post their fee schedules on their websites and in newsletters.
But the guidelines still allow fees for “enhanced programming and materials,” as well as “enrichments and upgrades.” They also fail to put a maximum cap on student-activity fees or even address athletic fees, which can be a huge barrier to many students, according to Annie Kidder of the Toronto-based education watchdog People for Education.
It will still be easy for schools to say “superior” materials for art class, music, or phys-ed require fees, says Kidder, the research and advocacy group’s executive director.
The guidelines have been put in place for all Ontario high schools after People for Education found some schools bringing in thousands of dollars from fees prohibited by the Education Act.
From textbooks to musical instruments to safety goggles and other science lab materials, nearly 70 per cent of Ontario high schools were charging students with fees they shouldn’t be, reports People for Education. Some of these schools made up to $90,000, on top of student-activity fees and athletics fees.
The revenue made through these fees is not equitably distributed or consistently accounted for, reports the group, causing money inequalities between schools.
“Funding is an issue in our education system and schools rely on these fees,” says Kidder. “But there wasn’t much knowledge about what you are and aren’t allowed to charge for. I don’t think people even knew there were rules for school fees. These guidelines at least clarify that.”
For the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board, watching school fees and keeping them in line with the Education Act has been an ongoing priority says Denise Andre, the board’s deputy director of education.
“We already put all our fee policies in our newsletters and we’re always working to enforce those policies,” she says. “We did do a survey at Immaculata High School a while back and I can tell you there are no fees within any of their compulsory courses.”
Immaculata offers an optional special outdoors education class in certain years, however, and there is a fee for that, she notes.
In the end, Andre says she doesn’t see much change coming from these guidelines.
Lisgar Collegiate charges a $20 student-activity fee, says vice-principal Bruce Summers, but that fee is strictly in line with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board policy. It’s a standard procedure and mainly pays for the students’ day planners, he says.
“In terms of other concerns, there are workbooks in a lot of the language classes such as Spanish but purchasing those is entirely optional,” says Summers.
Natalie Smith, a Grade 12 student at Lisgar, says she doesn’t mind paying the student-activity fee.
“It was $50 at my old school so I definitely can’t complain,” she says.
Smith says she thinks her school’s fee policy is fair, with students only paying for textbooks if they lose them.
“It could definitely be a lot worse.”