Student Fees Scrapped by Roanoke County School System (VA) after Legal Aid Justice Center Report Finds Certain Educational Service Fees Unconstitutional
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: David Harrison
Source: The Roanoke Times
Date: 6/11/08
The Roanoke Times reports: "Roanoke County schools have scrapped almost all student fees next year after a study by a legal aid group raised questions about school fees statewide. Getting rid of the fees is likely to ease the burden on the county's public school parents at a time of rising grocery and gasoline prices, even though it will cost the school system almost $427,000 next year. The decision in Roanoke County, where some high school parents pay hundreds of dollars in annual fees, also represents among the first of several possible revisions to fee structures in districts across Virginia . . . . Legal aid lawyers who worked on the [May 2008] study [by the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville] say some of these fees force parents to pay for educational services that the Virginia Constitution guarantees for free . . . . The study has prompted school districts to rethink their fees. State education officials are also considering updating their rules about student fees, said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education." Click here to read the report.