It cost Riverside mom Irene Douglas $717 to register her son, John, for his senior year at Riverside-Brookfield High School. Douglas was one of hundreds of parents whipping out their check books and credit cards last week as they and their children went through registration at RBHS.
This year the school raised its basic registration fee by $25 to $190 to combat its budget deficit. But as Douglas and other parents discovered, the registration fee is just the start of the cost of sending a child to RBHS.
All students also have to pay a $30 technology fee. But Douglas’ bill skyrocketed, because her son, John, is taking four Advanced Placement courses. AP classes have a basic charge of $87 at RBHS, though AP physics, which John Douglas is taking, costs $102.
John Douglas also plays soccer for Bulldogs, so that’s $75 under RBHS’ new pay-to-participate policy for athletics.
“It’s more than I’ve ever paid,” Irene Douglas said. “I knew they were going to start charging for sports. I was not shocked, but it was a lot. I figured either we were going to pay through a referendum or we were going to pay through school fees, so either way we were going to be paying.”
The $717 total for Douglas included a few optional items that most families shell out for. It included a yearbook for $40, and a $20 activity fee that allows students to attend most RBHS athletic events and dances (but not the prom) without paying for admission.
Seniors are also charged $5 for transcripts.
Even parents whose children are not taking AP classes were struck by the cost of going to a public school.
“It’s a hardship,” said Colleen Bratta after paying $369 for her daughter to register for her senior year. “I think it’s a little bit more than you ever expect. It always seems like a lot.”
Many classes at RBHS cost a little bit extra. Applied Zoology comes with a $15 fee, Honors Madrigal Singers will set you back $15 and a Mind and Body class costs $4. These fees usually cover things such as sheet music or lab supplies.
The Illinois constitution says that “education in public schools through the secondary level shall be free,” but in 1970 the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that free schools didn’t mean free textbooks. The Illinois State Board of Education allows schools to set fees for textbooks, educational materials and supplies and lab equipment and other expenses.
The purpose of RBHS’ $190 basic registration fee, officially called the registration and co-curricular fee is to “offset the costs of textbooks, general and co-curricular activities and building-wide events” according to the RBHS website.
The $30 technology fee is “for the use of computer labs and related technology” the website states.
Students who qualify for the free lunch program get all of their fees waived, except for Advanced Placement exam fees.
RBHS parents who spoke to the Landmark last week paid anywhere from $280 to $717 to register their children, although a few qualified for fee waivers.
It cost one father $341 to register his daughter for her freshman year.
Freshmen are charged $19 for a required gym T-shirt and $6 each for a locker and PE lock. His daughter was also charged a $15 for her Introduction to Scientific Inquiry course, one of the many additional fees that are charged for specific classes. These fees generally cover educational materials beyond the textbook.
Lyons Township High School, which serves students in the southern part of Brookfield, charges a flat $75 fee for textbook rental to all its students and another $25 student support fee which covers technology and admission to most LTHS home sports events, according to Jennifer Bialobok, the school’s community relations director.
The $75 textbook rental fee has not changed in five years and prior to that was higher, Bialobok says. LTHS does not charge students to be on athletic teams.
In many classes, LTHS students have to pay for some supplemental educational materials such as paperback novels for an English class. These costs average out to around $70 a year per student Bialobok said.
At LT students pay $86 to take an AP class, Bialobok said and a gym uniform costs $11.
It also costs money, though not as much, to register kids for elementary school.
In Riverside Elementary School District 96 fees are based on the child’s grade level. The fees range from $70 to register a kindergartener to $185 for an eighth-grader.
“They stayed the same for six years,” said District 96 Superintendent Jonathan Lamberson.
In Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95 the “material fee” for first- through fifth-graders is $85 ($95 if paid after July 15) and $100 ($110 after July 15) for students at S.E. Gross Middle School. A gym uniform at S.E. Gross sets you back another $15.