As a spinoff of the two recent posts about "requests" for money from the schools in the form of yearbook sales and feildtrip fees I have to ask:

How much do you think you pay in these costs for a school year?

My kids aren't in school yet, but I was surprised by all of the things the school asks you to buy. We aren't exactly well off but not poor either and alot of these things wouldn't fit into out tight budget, especially when they are both in school!

I am surprised that soo many people don't seem to think twice about paying for all of these things! I see it as the school using your child to preassure you into buying these things. How do you say no to your child when they bring home the yearbook order form or a field trip slip with a huge fee included. Or how do you explain that they won't be getting a school Tshirt like their freinds? The more I think about this the more upset I get. How could the school that expects kids to have good morals and values turn around and ask for money so often and put you on the spot? Do they think about the fact that some families can't afford all of this stuff? Do they see the culture of peer preasure they are creating?

Getting off my soapbox now!

I was just discussing this with my SIL 2 days ago. I totally agree with you. It seems like every week it's something. I'm getting really tired of it. I don't have that kind of money to dish out all the time. I really wish the schools wouldn't push so many things. UGH!

For my dd the yearbook is on a dvd and cost $12 last year.

I may be in the minority, but I don't think it's a big deal when the school has extras you can buy. If I can't afford it I simply say no. I don't see a big peer pressure thing from my dd to buy anything at school. Or you can set limits...like at the booksale the kids write down a wish list (list of what their favorite items were). I ask my dd to pick 1 or 2 items off the list and that's it.

Lots of the extras are fundraisers put on by the PTA and the proceeds go directly back to the school.

My dd's school has the yearbook dvd, a fall product sale, and then events you can chose to go to throughout the year (school night at Wendy's, school night at Chuck E Cheese, etc). How many extras do other kid's have?

I like the yearbook on DVD! What a green idea & space saver.

So far I haven't encountered this problem because my oldest is in preschool. She brings home lots of fundraisers but we contribute what we can.

The requests for money in an average K-6 school year have been for us:

Pictures- both fall and srping. We only ever buy the class photo for 10.00 and get the rest of our "school pictures" at wal-mart or wherever.

Fall Fundraiser. They want the kids to sell overpriced junk- wrapping paper and such. I donate 25.00 to this to be deposited directly into our booster club account. They buy things like shade structures or playground equipemnt- it's used for useful things for the kids, I just don't want to sell.

Other things they ask for: box tops which are free to clip.
"scrips" where you attach your grocery store frequent shopper card to the school so they get a certain amont every time you shop.
also they do a school fundriaser night every month at some sort of fast good place- and a certain percentage of sales that night go to the school.
Various "Spirit" line items,- spirt beads, stuffed animals, school shirts, ect.

We pay about 30.00 a month for Band or Orchestra instrument rental. The class is free at school, but you must rent or buy the instrument. Sheet music is free, but you must purchase appropriate performance clothing ( white shirt, skirt or slacks and dress shoes)

This year the new ones for us was some sort of Jump rope for life thing to raise money for the AHA but it was optional. Then there is the holiday house- where kids are herded in during school hours and encouraged to purchase cheap overpriced junk under the guise of it being a "gift" for the holidays. Bleh. I don't let my kids do that either. If they want to bring pocket change to buy an eraser or goo with google eyes for thier friends, that's fine.

Field trips always want money, and it's usually around 10 bucks.

but mostly they ask for donations of items. They want raffle basket items donated, and classroom suppliees, and pennies for the penny drive, Canned foods for the NJHS drive, that sort of thing. I can live with that.

I don't feel nickled and dimed until middle school hit. Now It's dance tickets. (2.00) and Winter formal pictures. ( 5.00) and then there is the dress for the dance- and shoes, and a wrap or cover since you can't wear spaghetti straps. Formal dances have a stricter dress code. Then there is the 2.00 entrance fee per person to get into the softball championships- even if your own child is playing. Then yearbooks, 8th grade graduation photos, 8th grade graduation dress, 8th grade trip to Washington. Graphing calculatior for advanced algebra. Poster board for projects. Nice outfit for the spelling bee and speech contest. More poster board and supplies for the Science Fair. Gifted Program field trip, Student council leadership academy, ect, ect.

You will get off relatively cheap until you hit middle school. unless your kids don't want to do anything.

It seems as if it is always something at my younger son's school (he is in third grade). It's either some kind of fundraiser where you are pressured to buy and sell. Now they sent home an order form for a yearbook (in third grade??? I think this is ridiculous...). And they have school t-shirt sales 3-4 times a year, plus the yearly school festival/fundraiser. And several book fairs during the year.

Just depends on your school...we don't get bombarded by fees. We pay a fee at the beginning of the year for 'consumable' materials and that's it. It's more than reasonable to me!

I don't have a problem with schools asking for receipts or box tops...if you don't want to do it...just don't. Why is that annoying?

My kids bring home the forms like everyone else for the candy sales, book sales etc They're not interested in any of it and neither am I...just because I think it's junk. I just donate to our PTO and other organizations with a check made out directly to them instead of doing the fundraisers. *shrug* Our PTO does AWESOME things for the kids in school, I have no problem contributing to them.

Doesn't seem strange to me that if you participate in an extra curricular activity that fees might involved and certain clothing might need to be purchased. No brainer to me...I wouldn't expect the school to pay for that. My parents paid for all that stuff back when I was in school, so it seems very normal to me.

Our field trips range from a few dollars to a few hundred (week long overnight field trip). They've always seemed reasonable to me. I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't 'think twice'. LOL

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I think a lot of it depends on where you live and your school district.

Neither of the school districts that I taught in had supply fees or fees to go on field trips.

They did do fund raisers (PTO) twice a year - fall and spring, but that money goes right back into the school and if you didn't want to participate, it wasn't a big deal.

They did pictures twice a year and there was a paperback yearbook ($5 at one school and $10 at the other school).

Honestly? We just don't have the money to do it, so we don't. It's a stretch for us to afford preschool, but she absolutely loves it, so we'll stretch as long as we can. But, we didn't do any of the four fundraisers they've had so far (2 for a teacher who is ill and two for the benefit of the school). We also didn't do the book sale or the fall school pictures. We'll probably do the spring class picture, but that's it. I'm hoping that her elementary school is better. We'll see.
Michelle