For some Alberta parents, school fees are a struggle

Paying school fees is a struggle every year for parent Tina Lysohirka, but last year it was harder than ever.

• ​NDP looks to cut mandatory school fees for textbooks, learning materials
• School is back, and so are the fees parents have to pay

"I called the schools hysterical going 'I don't know what to do here'," recalled Lysohirka, a mother of four children attending St. Albert Catholic schools.

Lysohirka, who works full-time as does her husband, wrote to the schools. They waived the fees.

But Lysohirka still had to pay for her certain assignments and athletics, something she struggled to do, even after taking on another part-time job.

And she definitely couldn't afford her son's ski trip, or one time even the $50 required for a shop project.

"So he paid for it himself out of his own paper route money," Lysohirka said.

Last year Education Minister David Eggen signaled he intended to reduce fees for mandatory items such as textbooks and instructional materials, after asking boards to submit their fee information to his department.

The fees had become expensive and varied widely from district to district, Eggen concluded.

At the time, Alberta Education released numbers showing parents paid $44.8 million for those items in the current fiscal year.

Parents paid another $40 million for transportation and $20.8 million for lunch supervision, bringing the total for mandatory fees to $105.6 million.

Parents paid another $54.8 million for instructional fees like technology, field trips and optional course fees.

But two weeks ago, Eggen said his government had been "unable to move on that in the way we have hoped to," because of the sluggish economy.

Still, he said he expected to see a three per cent reduction in school fees across the province.

Fee reductions

Indeed, Edmonton Catholic eliminated school fees this year, at a cost of $3.5 million, but will assess after the provincial budget this spring whether to continue with that practice for next school year. Parents still have to cover expenses, such as field trips and additional programs.

At Edmonton Public, spokesperson Raquel Maurier said principals determine fees, so they vary from school to school. If a family has difficulty paying, they can talk to the principal, who has the discretion to waive fees, she said.

"For my family, on our income, I'm satisfied with what we're paying at this time," said Mariah Brooks, whose eight-year-old daughter's public school fees dropped from $127 to $27. "If it was the same for next year, I'd be satisfied seeing that as well."

​At Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, secretary-treasurer Deb Schlag said the district waived a total of $437,000 in fees and asked schools not to introduce new fees "to minimize costs to families."

On average, fees are $128 annually and as low as $52 at some schools, the district said.

A spokesperson said the district is aware that despite the reduction some parents still struggle and that fees would be waived for families that require assistance.

But Lysohirka said she paid a total of $1,000 last year in fees for her four children, not including her son's shop assignments, other school supplies, transit and sports tournaments.

And while some fees may have gone down, others such as transit have gone up, she said.

"I don't want to not give my kid these opportunities," she said. "But I just don't have that kind of money all the time."​