INDIANA. (WTWO/WAWV) – Indiana parents may soon be able to save money on their school-aged children.
Governor Eric Holcomb recently expressed support for eliminating textbook fees in K-12 public and charter schools when announcing his proposed budget at the beginning of January.
Indiana is one of seven states with this fee intact.
“I can speak as a dad that has two high school-aged kids and every august when that comes, you kind of forget about it that it’s coming, and then when it hits your registration and you see ‘I’ve got $600, $700 that I have to pay, you know that its kind of a hit,” Kevin Frank, Superintendent of Washington Community Schools, said.
The textbook fee per year, per student, can start below $100. However, Frank explained that number quickly increases as the child gets older.
“We do our best to try and control those as much as we can. Kindergarten through junior high, you’re looking at anywhere from $80 to about $200. When you get into high school, you’re looking at curriculum fees that include textbook fees and supply fees. That can probably approach $300,” Frank said.
Hayley Dorsett is a single-mother of a seven and an 11-year-old.
She said she would be in favor of the textbook fees disappearing.
“I came from Illinois, didn’t have textbook fees, so when we moved over to Indiana I paid, I think $300-350 ish so far this year,” Dorsett said.
If she continues to pay an average of $300 per year on textbook fees, she’s looking at forking over another $1,800 before her 11-year-old graduates high school.
With the constant push of technology, she said she hardly ever sees the books she’s paying for.
“I see my kids bring their Chromebooks home probably every single day but I honestly can’t remember when I’ve seen them bring a hard-copied textbook home,” Dorsett said.
Frank said although he is in favor of eliminating textbook fees to lift some of the burden off of families, he said he does have some questions surrounding this proposal.
“I’m curious to know, what are the conditions with that? Right now, like I said before, we try to do our best to not get the most expensive textbook and all of that. But I would wonder, if the state is going to be covering that, there’s probably going to be conditions and limits on what it is that we can adopt,” Frank said.
Frank explained he believes eliminating the fees would give families more wiggle room to put money toward things like sports and clubs for their children.
“There’s tennis shoes to buy and new school clothes to purchase and different equipment pieces, travel costs for going to different places, so if some of this can be absorbed by the state, then it frees up funds for maybe families to put toward other needs,” Frank said.
To follow this proposal along with the rest of the legislative session, you can catch our “Statehouse Wrap” that airs every Friday evening on WTWO.
