High court rules against school fees

In a case challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that public schools may not impose academic fees on K-12 students anymore. \nDuring the 2002-2003 school year, the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation mandated a $20 fee for each of its students in an attempt to balance its budget -- a budget which had incurred a $2.3 million deficit in 2002. \nLitigants Frank Nagy and Sonja Brackett, parents of two EVSC students, did not pay the fees for their children, claiming they were financially unable to cover those extra expenses. According to case documents, their children were eligible for the reduced or free school lunch and textbook programs. \nWhen Nagy and Brackett failed to send the $20 fees with their children to school, EVSC mailed them notices, declaring if they did not deliver the fees to the school within a time specified, the matter would be referred to a law firm for collection. The attorney's fees of up to $100, Nagy and Brackett said, would be charged to them regardless of whether the school pursued legal action. \nBrackett said she never feared legal action because she knew the fee was unconstitutional. \n"I really felt strongly about what I was fighting for," Brackett said. "I spent a couple of months at least on the phone every day talking to people throughout the state about our rights. I was just going to take it as far as I could." \nAfter researching the issue, Brackett contacted the Indiana ACLU for legal support. \nShe suspected the school was trying to con the parents out of more money to pay off its debt, she said. \n"We were told (the $20) was for an activities fee," she said. "It was really a service fee to cover other expenses like ... counselors and librarians. That's where it really aggravated me. They were misleading us." \nThe court claimed that Article 8, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution intended that "tuition shall be free without charge," making the EVSC fees unconstitutional. \n"I'm thrilled -- I'm ecstatic," Brackett said. "To win something that is on such a large scale as this -- had (the school corporation) been able to get away with charging this service fee, how much would they charge next year?" \nThe EVSC attorney, IU Trustee Patrick A. Shoulders, was not available for comment. However, Indiana Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr. wrote a dissenting opinion in favor of the fee. In his statement, Sullivan wrote: "Because the trial court found that the things for which the fee was imposed were things that ... were 'outside of ... the legislature' as part of the constitutionally commanded uniform system of public education, I believe that even under the Court's construction of Article 8, Section 1, the fee was permissible." \nBrackett said she believes this case is a victory for all parents whose children are educated in the public school system. If they had more money, they would be sending their children to private school, she said. \nThe ACLU chapter in Indiana also believes the outcome of the case is a victory for all. \n"We are pleased the court decided the Indiana Constitution prohibits ... a fee for services that are essential to young Hoosiers' education," said ACLU attorney Jacquelyn Bowie Suess in a press release.