Fairfax County high school students face new fees
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| Annandale High School |
As students head back to Fairfax County schools tomorrow, many parents of high school students are facing new fees: a $100 athletic administrative fee (AAF) charged per student, per sport for participation in Virginia High School League sports and a $75 fee for each Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) test.
The fees are waived for students eligible for the federal free or reduced-price meal program. Still, the fees are likely to be burden for families just above that limit and for families with several children or children who want to play several sports or take several AP or IB tests. It will be interesting to see whether Annandale High School experiences a decline in sports participation or IB test-takers. (AHS offers IB, rather than AP, courses).
A notice from Fairfax County Public Schools to parents describes the payment options. Fees will be collected through a centralized billing process. Parents and guardians will receive an invoice by U.S. mail and will be instructed to send their payments to a post office box administered by Bank of America (not to the student’s school). Parents can expect invoices for AP and IB testing fees in November.
Billing for the AAF will take place three times during the school year after the team rosters are finalized (September, December, and February). “There is no relationship between the AAF and a guarantee of playing time,” the notice states. “Playing time is at the sole discretion of the head coach and his or her staff. The funds collected from the AAF will directly support the student activities and athletics program.”
Payments can be made by check, money order, or credit card (Visa or MasterCard). Parents and guardians will also have the option to make payments electronically using a credit card, debit card, or an e-check through a Bank of America website.
A link to the new online fee payment website will also be added to the new “Especially for Parents” section of the FCPS website by Sept. 15.
2 responses to “Fairfax County high school students face new fees”
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It is my understanding that successful passing of AP and IB tests allow students to place out of college courses in many cases. If that is correct, that makes the 75/100 fee perhaps the best deal in education in the country. Additionally, I don't think it should be up to everyone to fund my families personal choices.
As far as the sports fees, I think they should have been weighted towards what the sport actually costs. For instance, track is cheap to run per student from what I recall from budget discussions last year. Football is not cheap to run (although it is apparently a cash cow). That said, I also think that it is a personal choice to join a sport so I have no problem with the fee. I pay a fee for my kids for the Annandale Boys and Girls Club sports. I would expect to do the same in high school.
Priciple aside, these decisions came after a long discussion of what to cut. Any discussion of adding these back into the budget needs to be accompanied with a discussion of what should be cut instead or who's taxes are going to be raised to cover the expense. Complaining about the fees is the easy part. As we saw last year if you attended any of the school board meetings, it's not easy to discuss these things in this context. But it's disingenuous not to.
haha make me laugh that is funny parents have to pay $110 for nonsense.